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lonelysoul029 · 4 years ago

Text

His Hufflepuff Secret~ Three

<-Previous Chapter

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Year IV

Draco sees her sitting under an old oak tree. The slight winter breeze blowing her hair in her face while she reads. He stands near the bottom of the hill as he admires her. Delicate fingers turning the page of the tattered muggle book, her big Y/E/C eyes going over the words, lips slightly turning into a smile as she transports herself into the story. Draco can stare at the sight all day. In fact, he wants to, but there is an important matter that needs to be discussed, so he shakes his head and continues up the hill.

"Hey there, beautiful," Draco pops up from behind the tree, making Y/N jump and drop her book.

"Dammit Draco, you made me lose my page!" Y/N whines at him. She picks up her book and dusts off the twigs and snow, silently thanking whomever was listening that the book has a hard cover.

Draco just grins at her, "Haven't you read that silly little book, oh I don't know, a million times already? Surely you'll remember exactly where you left off."

She glares up at him, "It's not just a 'silly little book'. It just so happens to be a classic in the muggle world."

"You know, you're cute when you're mad," he crouches down so that his face is level with hers, "That's why I love winding you up."

Y/N mocks offence, "I'm cute only when I'm mad?" she puts the back of her hand on her forehead and tilts her head up and to the side, "And here I thought that I look cute all the time."

"Nah, darling," Draco takes her hand in his and kisses it, not breaking eye contact, "The rest of the time, you just look incredibly gorgeous."

She smiles at his antics. Their friendship mostly consists of a lot of teasing and flirting, so she's used to physical contact with him. They only ever go as far as a kiss on the cheek, much to her dismay. Somewhere in the two years they've been friends, Y/N developed feelings for the Slytherin. Their secret meetings by the lake before breakfast, their afternoon 'studying lessons' in the library, and the astronomy tower hangouts after dark, where they just talk about their day and watch the stars in the sky. She thinks of the way that one knowing look from him in class can make her feel better. Even little things like his hand not so accidentally brushing against hers as they pass each other in the hallways make her heart flutter and her feelings for him grow even more. She's so lost in thought that she didn't notice that Draco has moved to sit down beside her, still not letting go of her hand.

Draco just watches her, knowing she is thinking about something because of the way she is chewing at the corner of her lip. She seems to snap out of her trance when she catches him staring. "What?"

"C-can I ask you something?" Come on, Draco, pull yourself together. Whatever she says, it's not going to be the end of the world, he tries to assure himself. Ever since Draco had that nightmare last year, he's been a bit more protective over Y/N. He's always checking up on her and being with her when no one is around. He has grown to love their friendship but Draco also started to fall in love with her; the girl of his dreams. That's why he is so excited for the ball coming up. He gets a night to finally show her how he truly feels about her, and hopefully, she returns his affections.

Y/N raises her eyebrows and turns her head to look at him. Draco never stutters unless he's scared, nervous or about to break down, so she squeezes his hand to let him know that he's alright. "Sure, ask away." She notices that he seems different from when he startled her earlier. The cocky and playful expression on his face now replaced with uncertainty and nerves.

He takes a deep breath, it's now or never, Draco, "W-wouldyouliketogototheYuleballwithme?" Draco manages to mumble out.

"W-what?" It's her turn to stutter now, not actually believing her ears.

"I said," Draco's face becomes a bit more serious after he clears his throat, his voice more confident than before, "Would you be my date for the Yule Ball?"

Y/N's mouth drops. Is this actually happening? Did Draco Malfoy, my best friend, really just ask me out? "What about the other students? Won't they be talking about us when we show up at the ball together?" She avoids asking him if this date meant a date date, or just two friends going to a dance together... as friends.

"Who cares if they talk about us?" Draco defends, "I'm tired of hiding the fact that I'm friends with such an amazing girl like you. And besides," he lets go of her hand and moves his up to her face, rubbing his thumb in slow circles on her cheek, "All the boy's will be jealous that I've got the most beautiful girl on my arm." His signature smirk now making its way on his lips.

She instinctively melts into his touch and closes her eyes. His hand feels warm, a sharp contrast to the cold of the season. She has been out under the tree for a while now, getting lost once again in the world of Anne Frank, when Draco showed up. Y/N sighs, "Okay," she nods, slowly. Opening her eyes again, she sees that Draco has a huge smile on his face. She can't help but smile with him. Even though he said 'friends', she's still happy to being going to the ball with him. "Just as friends?" she whispers, without meaning to actually say it out loud.

Draco seems surprised at the question but quickly covers up his shock. He smiles once again and moves his face closer to her until his lips brushes hers, ever so lightly, their breaths mingling. "Hey sweetheart?"

"Yeah?"

"You're shaking."

Y/N pulls away and looks down at her hands. They really are shaking. "Oh."

"Come on, let's get you inside," Draco stands and takes the book from her so that she can put her hands in her pockets. They make their way back to the school. The tree is quite a long ways away because it's where the two hang out, away from other students. The journey is silent. Neither of them know what to say.

The air surrounding them has changed. There is tension that wasn't there before and they both know it. Whatever it was that happened, or rather almost happened, by the tree made it so. Inside their minds, they are both cursing themselves for not moving closer.

When they reach the courtyard, Y/N suddenly speaks up, "What should I wear?"

Draco looks at her confused. He then realises that she's asking about the ball, "Anything you wear would look good."

"Well, obviously I know that," she flips her hair back playfully, "But if we're going to go to the ball together, I think it would be nice to match with each other."

"You think too much, you know that?" He jokes, "You may as well be in Ravenclaw for that overworking brain of yours."

"Tell that to my failing Potions mark," she laughs, thinking back to the cauldron she accidentally exploded while brewing a Drowsiness Draught. "Seriously though, what should I wear?"

"A dress in my favourite colour, perhaps?" Draco answers. He has definitely NOT thought of his best friend wearing an emerald green gown and completely taking over the dance floor with her.

"Green would look terrible on me!"

"Y/N Fawley," he wraps an arm around her waist to pull her close, his free hand cups her chin and makes her look up at him, "You would look outrageously perfect in anything and everything." Draco looks deep into her eyes, telling her that he means it.

"Alright," she sighs in defeat. Y/N can't help the butterflies fluttering in her stomach at his words. She feels the blood rushing to her cheeks so she looks down to hide it. If Draco notices, she hopes he'll think she's blushing because of the cold.

"Good," Draco smiles and kisses her cheek. He lets her go then continues to walk to the castle. He turns back right before he goes through the doors. "Will I see you tonight at the tower?" He asks, knowing that she might not be able to come because she's got Hermione helping her with Potions.

"We'll see," she answers, unsure if her Gryffindor friend will let her leave her side until she's caught up with everything they've covered so far in the lessons. Draco nods understandingly and smiles at her. Y/N blows him a kiss before he goes. After the door clicks shut, she takes a deep breath. She brings a finger to her lips as she recalls her almost-kiss with Draco. Had he meant to do that? Will he try to do it again? Will I try to make a move? Her thoughts are filled with questions she's not sure she wants answered. She thinks back to last year, when she saw Cedric and Cho kissing in the common room. Y/N wanted her first kiss to be like that with Draco. She always pictured it, dreamt about it even. Sadly, her first kiss was taken by Dean Thomas, on a Thursday night game of truth or dare with the Gryffindors. Not that she didn't like the kiss. It was soft and gentle, but also awkward and weird, given that it happened in front of everyone. Still, she wishes that it was Draco's lips on hers instead. If it was the blonde haired boy she kissed, she wouldn't care if it happened in front of people.

Y/N lets out a huff, trying to shake off the million thoughts and questions racing in her head. She walks into the school, taking in the warmth of the castle, and heads to the Great Hall for dinner. She spots the Golden Trio at the Gryffindor table, waving her over. They eat and talk, Ron doing most of the talking even though his mouth is stuffed full with fried chicken. Hermione slaps him on the arm, reminding him to not eat like a pig with all the grease and chicken bits falling from his chin. While they're all laughing, Y/N's eyes land on the Slytherin table. Draco seems to be glaring at them, mainly Harry, but once he sees her looking at him, his eyes soften and he gives her a small smile.

~~~~•~~~~

"Hermione no! We've been doing this for ages," Y/N whines at her best friend, slumping further into her chair, "Let's face it, if it's not ingrained into my brain after reading all these books over and over again, then it never will!"

The curly-haired brunette rolls her eyes at her, "I don't know how else to help you, Y/N. Besides, we've made some progress since we started," Hermione looks sympathetically at her defeated friend. "What's the difference between unicorn hair and billywig sting slime?"

"The slime is usually what makes any potion bubble and the unicorn hair makes it change colour," she answers almost immediately. Hermione grins at her and it takes Y/N a second before her eyes widen. "Oh my god!" She moves her hands excitedly.

"You see? You're getting better," Hermione says in an 'I told you so' tone, but looking proud at her friend. "I guess we can stop there for the night. Malfoy must be waiting for you at the tower."

"Mione!" Y/N gives her a warning look, "Speak quieter please," she looks around the Gryffindor common room to see if anyone heard anything. To her relief, a couple of boys were sat across the room from them, out of earshot. Hermione is the only person that knows about her friendship with Draco. They didn't mean for her to find out, but being the genius that she is, she figured out where Y/N slips off to every time she disappears. Both Draco and Y/N were expecting her to freak out about it, but to their surprise, Hermione was quite supportive of their relationship. Saying something about Malfoy needing a good influence like her in his life. Y/N looks at the time on her watch then looks back up at Hermione, "It's late, so he's probably back in his dorm already."

"Oh, okay. Well then you better get back to your dorm, too. You wouldn't want to get caught in the halls after curfew and get detention," Hermione replies.

"Actually, speaking of Malfoy," Y/N starts, "He's asked me to go to the Yule Ball with him."

Hermione's jaw drops, "Did he really?", she squeals, making the boys in the room turn their heads in their direction for a second. Both Hermione and Y/N mutter a 'sorry' before continuing their conversation.

"Yes, he really did," Y/N whispers in reply.

"But just as friends, right?" Hermione questions, "I mean, he can't possibly want people thinking you two are dating. No offence."

"None taken," Y/N replies, "But that's the thing! He said he doesn't care if people find out we're friends, and when I asked him if it was a date, he didn't say anything. He just..."

"He just, what?" she prompted.

"He almost kissed me."

"What? How can you only almost kiss someone?" Hermione leans against the couch and folds her arms.

Y/N shrugs, "I mean, it wasn't a kiss or a peck. Our lips just, touched. If that makes sense. Ugh I don't know!"

Hermione hums, "Well, it sounds like he might actually want this to be a real date. I wouldn't be surprised if at the ball, he'd actually kiss you right there on the dance floor," she smirks and wiggles her eyebrows suggestively at Y/N, making her blush.

"No way," Y/N turns her face to hide the blood rushing to her cheeks, but of course Hermione, without even having to look at her best friend, knows that she's blushing.

Giggling, Hermione stacks their books and places them in her book bag, "Listen, it's really late, you should get back to your dorm."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say Hermione Granger was kicking me out of her common room," Y/N jokes.

"Hey, I just don't want you spending a night in detention," Hermione laughs.

They say their good nights and Y/N thanks her friend for tutoring her then heads off. She gets to her dorm sees Hannah fast asleep. She quietly gets ready for bed then drifts off. Flashes of a blonde Slytherin moving with her across the dance floor in her dreams.

_____

Next Chapter->

#draco x reader #fan fiction #draco lucius malfoy #harry potter #hufflepuff!reader #slytherin #hufflepuff #ravenclaw #gryffindor #writing #series #jkrowling #fluff #hogwarts #his hufflepuff secret #chapter three #izzy writes

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wizardessheart-sideb · 4 years ago

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Image ID: A chapter image done in the style of Wizardess Heart. A large, off-white imagine with a guy on it. He’s wearing a dark gray uniform. There’s a lavender bar over him that reads “Tsukasa Kuze.” The rest of the text reads “Main Story” and “Chapter 1: A Chance Meeting” /End ID]

Summary: I've been chosen as a provisional student for the famous Gedonelune Royal Magic Academy! But as the Trial period goes on, I'm hit with too much at one time: trying to catch up with the prodigy students of the Night Class and becoming buddies with the quiet and kind Tsukasa Kuze. Tsukasa is wonderful, but as his health takes a turn for the worse, I have to find a way to make him well again.

The sun was starting to set as the train pulled into Gedonelune Station. I was ready at the doors, things gathered together and I was practically vibrating. Once the doors opened, I’d enter Gedonelune Town. Just to think, the moment I’d been waiting for for years was finally almost here!

“Aren’t you eager?” The Acceptance Letter commented snidely as he floated over to me. He’d been like this entire trip. I tried to ignore his sour demeanor.

“Of course I am! This is the beginning of something amazing!” I replied.

“You mean it could be. You’re still not an official student,” he pointed out. Take deep breaths, just try to ignore his jabs. But that was easier said than done.

“So? Why should I let that bring down my mood? This is still an awesome experience!” I did my best not to sound angry. He was probably one of those idiots who thought showing emotion in arguments meant you were invalid. He just sighed.

“I guess I can’t argue with that,” he said. For a moment, I thought I’d finally won. But then he spoke up. “But you better get your head out of the clouds. If you don’t get serious, you’ll never make it here.”

“That’s not fair. Just because I’m excited means I’m not serious? How in the world are those related to each other?” I retorted.

“Ugh, you know what I mean.”

I bit my tongue. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know he was thinking I was being immature. How many times in my life had I heard that my enthusiasm and happiness was immature and that alone meant I didn’t deserve respect? Enough times to know the Acceptance Letter would just scoff and say that pessimism and being a jerk makes you more “adult” and worthy of respect. A terrible outlook on life, but whatever.

The train came to a stop and as soon as the doors opened, I flew onto the platform and into town. The pastel pink and orange sunset became more and more vivid as the sun made its daily plunge into darkness. Little by little, the streetlamps and windows of the town started to light up, glittering like the stars back in home in Reitz.

The town was so busy, even though it was getting late. It was so unlike Reitz, where things started closing up at five or six in the evening. I found a small bench to sit on, waiting for one of the prefects to come pick me up.

“What do the prefects look like? What should I be looking for?” I asked him.

“I don’t know what the other one looks like, but the one that usually comes to get students has short black hair and green eyes. He’s fairly tall, if I remember correctly,” the Acceptance Letter told me.

“Okay! I’ll keep my eyes peeled for him.”

“It’s strange, though…” The Acceptance Letter started to speak, but then trailed off. That’s not exactly something I wanna hear, I thought.

“What?”

“Usually, Nox is always here to greet the students. He’s never been late once,” he told me. That was a bit concerning, but I quickly reminded myself that I shouldn’t assume the worst right off the bat.

“Isn’t the campus far from town? He could’ve been held up,” I suggested.

“Potentially. Hopefully he’ll be here soon.”

That didn’t really inspire any optimism in me, but what else could I do? Every time I saw someone vaguely matching Mr. Letter’s description, I’d perk up, but every time they’d walk away. The minutes turned into hours. We waited and waited and there was no sign of Prefect Nox. I kept a constant look out for him, but as the night dragged on and the sunset was replaced with a star-filled sky, there was no sign of the prefect.

“Should… um…” I trailed off. How can I even contact him? It’s not like I have a Magic Phone or something… I fell silent, unsure of what to do. The crowds were slowly thinning out and just when I was about to suggest we head on by ourselves, a Magic Note flew into view and landed neatly in my lap. “Oh…”

I quickly unfolded and read it. It was an apology from Prefect Nox and Prefect Rex, telling me they were tied up on campus and couldn’t come get me. They said the Acceptance Letter would be able to bring me to campus in there stead. I fought back a sigh. To say I was irritated was an understatement. I really wish they’d sent this out earlier. I could’ve been settling in by now… From my side, the Acceptance Letter sighed.

“That’s really a shame. But I suppose I can lead you back myself,” he said. You… “suppose?”

“Can we go get some food first? I’m starving.”

“No! We can’t take any detours. We need to get to campus immediately!”

“But we’ve been sitting here for hours and I haven’t eaten anything since lunch.”

“You can eat once we get to campus. Your side of campus has a cafe that never closes.”

My side of campus…

The Night Class.

A secret student body of the Gedonelune Royal Magic Academy that studied elemental dark magic. I don’t know why I’d been chosen to be a part of it, but here I was. My dark magic was basically non-existent; Gedonelune outlawed all dark magic centuries ago. There were some movements to try and end the ban on elemental dark magic, but so far, they were just movements.

The Acceptance Letter trudged ahead, leaving me behind. I gathered up my things and followed after him. Despite it getting late, lots of shops were still open and the smells wafting onto the street from cafes was intoxicating. The sharp ache in my stomach reminded me how long ago it’d be since I ate. Why was he so dead-set on me not eating? Did he want me to starve?

“Are you sure I can’t just pop into a cafe and get something to go?” I asked, hopefully.

“No. We need to get to campus.” I fought back a pout.

“It’s easy for you to say that when you don’t need food. My last meal was ten hours ago,” I pointed out.

“Then you should’ve packed snacks,” he replied sourly.

“You showed up to my house and gave me an hour to pack. Of course I didn’t grab food.”

“It’s not my problem you didn’t pack food.”

I’d get better results talking to a wall. The urge to tear into him was strong, but I bit back my words. It wouldn’t do me any good to fight with him. It’d just make our trek to the castle awkward and no doubt I’d be in a worse mood than I already was in. Also I wasn’t sure if physically tearing him would count as murder.

“Fine. Let’s go, then.” If I could breeze past him, I would. I just hoped this trek wouldn’t take too long. My stomach kept growling the longer we walked. And to my dismay, the amount of shops slowly dwindled until we reached what looked like a small boathouse. Beyond it, dark waters spread over the land and at the end, the towering castle loomed on top of a hill. My heart raced at the sight.

“Will we be riding a boat to campus?”

“At this hour? Good heavens, no! We’ll be taking the bridge route. Come along.” He made a sharp turn, walking down a path that went along the lake. My soul shriveled up.

We walked and walked and walked and walked. We traveled on the outskirts of a forest, down a long bridge and through the face gate, up too many flights of stairs, and when I thought we were done with stairs, there were even more. The bottoms of my feet were aching and my legs were nothing more than jelly when we reached a mausoleum. I didn’t care if the Acceptance Letter was just going to kill me and bury me here; I wanted to rest.

“This is the entrance to the Night Class. There’s only one entrance to your part of campus, so remember that you need to go through the casket with the name ‘Robin Geralta’ on it,” the Acceptance Letter instructed me.

“Robin Geralta? Who’s she?” I asked.

“She was a Night Class student like yourself. She was Prefect last year.” Hm. Not sure if I liked that past tense.

“‘Was?’”

“She got pregnant in the middle of last semester and took a leave to have the baby. She’s alive, so I don’t know why they put her name there,” he said.

That’s a little too morbid for my tastes. But I’m glad she’s alive and well. The mausoleum was surprisingly well lit and sure enough, on a stone slab there was Robin’s name, crudely chiseled into the stone. That didn’t help me figure out if it was a jab or an honor, but I wanted to believe this was done with good intentions (just with bad craftsmanship).

“Well?” I flinched as the Acceptance Letter spoke sharply. “Go ahead and lift the lid up!” So demanding… Although my body protested, I leaned down and lifted the slab up. Green light and a light fog came out from the darkness; I could barely make out the stairs. The Acceptance Letter immediately floated in, going down the stairs. Great. More stairs. I groaned and followed.

Thankfully, this staircase wasn’t too long. It felt like we reached the bottom landing after only a few steps. The area, again, had more light that I expected. There were fake windows with moonlight pouring in and wrought iron chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. This must be campus, then. Even with the lighting, it’s a lot more dreary than I imagined it would be.

“What are you doing here?!”

I turned to the demanding voice. A handsome, slender man with black hair was quickly approaching us, robes flowing behind him.

“Nox, this is the new student,” the Acceptance Letter told him. Nox’s demeanor immediately changed from anger to surprise.

“The new student?” Nox asked, blinking. His face fell. “I’m sorry we couldn’t come get you. I, uh, I’ll walk you to the dorms.” He motioned for me to follow him and I quickly fell into step with him.

“What’s with the face? You look terrible,” the Acceptance Letter told him. So, he’s rude to everyone. I don’t know if that makes me relieved or sad…

“We’re actually in the middle of an investigation and this part of campus is locked down,” Nox explained. Investigation? A lock down? What did that mean? “Let me get you to the dorms and I’ll come by later tonight to give you a real orientation.” Nox grabbed my arm and started pulling me along down the hallway in front of us. The Acceptance Letter just sighed and made a home in my bag.

“This is the end of the line for me. Good luck on your Trial,” the Acceptance Letter said. “You’ll need it.” My fist clenched, but I stayed quiet. Was that little jab necessary? I hated to think it, but good riddance.

“Did he give you a lot of trouble?” Nox asked me.

“Oh no, not at all!” A lie, but sometimes, a little white lie is sweeter than the truth. Nox smirked at me.

“You don’t have to lie. We all know the Acceptance Letter is a jerk. I was just hoping he wasn’t too bad to you.”

“He’s just, um, a little intense…” I replied. Nox just laughed. We stepped up to a stone arch with gray gauze dangling down from it

“That’s one way to put it,” he said. “By the way, this is the only entrance to the dorms.” He didn’t hesitate to pull me in. In a second, we were outside in a forest. Trees surrounded us and there was some kind of black fog dancing among the trees. Nox lead me through a gate and in front of us was an impressive building. “This is the dorm. To get inside the building and your room, just tap your wand to the door handle.”

The foyer was strange. Dark wood and dark furniture was everywhere, but the chandelier shone brilliantly. It felt dark, but more in atmosphere than in lighting. I couldn’t say I was used to this. Most of the buildings in Reitz were definitely not decorated like this. Well, maybe around Halloween some where, but this wasn’t normal to me at all.

“This floor has the common room, a game room, mine and Rex’s suite, the spa, and an infirmary,” Nox informed me.

“Spa?!”

“It’s nothing fancy,” he said nonchalantly, as if he was talking about a vending machine and not a spa. “But it’s nice after a long week.” No, it’s definitely fancy to have a spa in your dorms… Although part of me wondered if maybe this was just a private school thing. Maybe all private schools had fancy things like this. As Nox pulled me towards the elevator, a door to our left opened and a young man, sickly pale and purple hair framing his face, walked out.

“Hello!” I said cheerfully.

“Hi there.” He gave me a kind smile. Warmth like sunshine radiated from him. I couldn’t help but give him a smile back.

“I guess you’re the new transfer student?” he mused.

“I am! Wait, how did you know that?!”

“Prefect Nox told us yesterday we’d be getting a new student and to behave ourselves. Uh, I mean, told us just to give us the heads up.” He grimaced as Prefect Nox gave him an exasperated looked. I just giggled. He seemed really nice! And man, what a relief that was. Part of me was worried everyone was going to be like the Acceptance Letter. But Nox and this guy seemed genuinely nice.

“Pfft, I didn’t hear that bit about behaving,” I told him.

“Haha, thank goodness,” he laughed. I gave him my name as I stuck my hand out for him. He shook it gently, his skin soft against mine.

“I’m Tsukasa Kuze,” he introduced himself.

“Tsukasa, how are you feeling? You scared us…” Nox asked him. The smile from Tsukasa’s face disappeared immediately.

“I’m sorry about that. But I’m feeling fine. I can go back to class now.” The what I was sure was supposed to be reassuring smile on his face didn’t quite reach his eyes. Nox just frowned at him.

“No, you can’t. Another incident happened and class is canceled for the rest of the day,” he said. Tsukasa’s face fell, but he nodded.

“That’s understandable,” Tsukasa replied.

“Tell you what, can you do me a favor?” Nox asked. “Can you take our new transfer student to their room for me? I really need to get back to campus.”

“Sure, I can do that,” Tsukasa nodded. Nox smiled, relieved.

“I owe you one. They’re in Isabelle’s suite in the room between hers and Aika’s.”

“Okay, understood.” Nox turned to me.

“I’ll come back in a few hours and give you your orientation, all right? Welcome to the Academy, by the way.” And without another word, he quickly left. Tsukasa sighed, shoulders slumping ever so slightly.

“He’s usually not this frazzled. He’s just stressed,” he said. What happened to make him so frazzled, though? The memory of his anger when he first saw me popped up in my mind’s eye. He didn’t look ready to kill, but it looked like he wasn’t that far off from it.

“I see. I wonder what happened to make him like this.”

“I don’t know. But we’ve been having a lot of weird things happen on campus this semester.” He sighed before glancing down towards my feet. “Here, let me help you.” He reached for my suitcase and picked it up. I quickly tried to grab it from him.

“You don’t have to carry my stuff!”

“You have both hands full. It’s fine.” He gave me a warm smile and somehow, I felt unwilling to argue with him. I trailed after him, going into the elevator and riding up to my floor.

“So… Um… What year are you?” I asked.

“I’m an Unus student. What about you?”

“Me too!”

“Great! We’re classmates then.” The idea of having Tsukasa in the same class as me was calming. I wouldn’t be in a class full of strangers. I mean, it would mostly be strangers, but I had at least one friendly face to look to.

The doors to the dorm suites were propped open with everything from books to bricks that looked like they were taken from school buildings to platform clogs. Tsukasa turned into one and I quickly memorized the number as I stepped inside. There was a door to our left, to our right, and three in front of us. All the doors except the one in the middle were open and I could hear voices and music coming from the dorm room to my right.

I took out my wand and tapped the knob like Nox instructed me. It opened immediately and I went inside. The room was fairly spacious and there was only one bed. Thank goodness. I have the room all to myself.

“Oh, you have a single too,” Tsukasa commented, placing my suitcase down by my dresser.

“You don’t have a roommate either?”

“Well, yes, but my room is set up for two people. My brother sleeps over on the weekends, so it’s like I have a roommate, but just for a couple of days. It’s not that bad.”

“You have a brother?”

“Yeah. He’s a Day Class student though, so we only see each other on the weekends.”

“That sucks.” I couldn’t imagine having a sibling and then getting separated from them like this. Although I think the siblings back home in Reitz would disagree with me.

“It sort of do- Well, it’s not too bad. I still see him a lot.” He smiled, but this time, it didn’t reach his eyes.

“Tsukasa? What’re you doing here?” A girl’s voice suddenly filled the room. I looked over and a girl my age stood in the doorway of my room. But as soon as our eyes locked, she hurried in. “Oh my gosh, the transfer student is here?! Welcome to the Night Class! I’m Aika, I’m in the room to the right!” Just a few steps behind her was an incredibly tall guy with long, pinkish-purple hair.

“I think it’s technically to the left,” he said. “At least that’s how it is when you walk into the suite.”

“Ugh, you know I’m not good with directions, Dorian!” Aika complained. He laughed and threw his arm around her shoulders. I had to wonder if they were friends or dating. There was a sigh by the door.

“Oh boy. Here we go again.” A girl with long purple curls scampered into the room, a platter of cupcakes in her hands. I tried not to stare at them. It’d been so long since I ate… I prayed my stomach wouldn’t make any noise. The curly-haired girl grimaced.

“I’m sorry about them. They do this a lot. I’m Isabelle, I’m in the room over there,” she said, cocking her head to the side.

“It’s nice to meet you guys!” I said before introducing myself.

“Nice to meet you too!” Isabelle said. “Here, I made these for you this evening.”

“Thank you!” Isabelle was an angel on earth, that much I knew. I took the platter and put it on my dresser. Maybe I should’ve showed some more restraint, but I immediately tore into a cupcake. Dorian snatched one off the plate, taking a bite before giving it to Aika.

“You can have one too if you like, Tsukasa,” Isabelle told him.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, go ahead!”

“Thank you.” Tsukasa instantly cheered up. He grabbed one and started nibbling on it. I was already on my second one.

“These are really good, Isabelle,” I told her. She beamed.

“Thanks! I’m glad to hear it. I was worried my cooking was a little rusty,” she laughed.

“They’re right. These are perfect,” Tsukasa said as he joined my side.

“Yeah, they’re okay,” Dorian said. He took Aika’s cupcake out of her hands and took another bite. She gave him an indignant look.

“Good!” Isabelle said. She smiled and leaned against the wall next to Dorian. Next to him, it was evident how short she was. Although Dorian looked unnaturally tall. I wonder just how tall he is.

“I’m 6’9 and Isabelle is 4’1,” Dorian spoke up suddenly. “I can read minds.”

“What?!” He can read minds?! No, that has to be a joke, right? But as I stared at him, he looked so serious. Aika rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the ribs. He just laughed.

“Dorian, stop messing with them. He just make a lucky guess. You’re not the first to stare like that,” she told him. “He’s too all and since we’re short in this household, he just looks even taller.”

“I didn’t realize you were that tall,” Tsukasa frowned.

“Height isn’t everything,” I quickly said. Immediately, Tsukasa’s mood brightened a bit.

“I actually agree,” Dorian commented. “I prefer shorter partners and they’re easy to find for me.”

“Oh, please, like you have a preference at all,” Aika teased him. He just gave her a teasing smile back

“You’re my preference,” he replied.

“Oh my God, shut UP. You’re so embarrassing!” she cried. Her face was bright red and she tried to hide it in her hands. Aw, that’s kind of cute. I’d like someone to be cute with.

“I like tall women, but really, I don’t care in the end. As long as you’re not a guy, my little bisexual heart is happy,” Isabelle commented, clearly trying not to laugh at Aika. She shifted her weight and looked off into space.

“You know, we’re a pretty diverse campus now that I think about it. We have students of every size, half of us are foreign exchange students, and we’ve got enough queer students to make a club for it,” she said.

“It’s a shame we can’t flaunt any of that.” Again, Tsukasa’s shoulders fell a little.

“Yeah. It’d be nice to show off how diverse we are. But that’s not going to happen anytime soon. Not with the whole secrecy thing,” I said.

“It’s not so bad. We’re safe here,” Aika pointed out. I wanted to ask why that mattered: after all, this was a school, of course it should be safe! But Tsukasa beat me to the punch, quickly speaking up.

“Yes, but it’s stifling, don’t you think? We can’t tell anyone about our accomplishments. We just have to stay silent and pretend we’re all self-taught prodigies once we graduate,” he argued.

“Frankly, I don’t care if we’re stifled,” Isabelle said with a shrug. “If we’re safe, that’s all that really matters to me. I don’t care if I can’t put this on job applications. I’m safe here and I don’t need anything else.” Tsukasa’s lips were pressed into a fine line and everyone could see he was deciding whether or not to fight back even more.

“I guess when you put it that way…” Tsukasa still looked like he wasn’t convinced, though. Dorian gave him a sympathetic look.

“You’ll understand it when you’re older. There’s nothing better than feeling safe and being secure,” he said. The corners of Tsukasa’s mouth twitched, but he said nothing. Although I was sure Dorian wasn’t trying to be patronizing, admittedly it did come off like that. An uncomfortable silence fell in my room. Isabelle cleared her throat after a few seconds.

“Well, uh, I’m sure our new transfer student has a lot of unpacking to do. We’ll call you in for dinner once Dorian’s done with it,” Isabelle announced.

“Yeah, I should get started on dinner. You’re welcome to join us, Tsukasa,” Dorian said.

“Thank you, but I’m full from the cupcake,” Tsukasa said politely.

“Oh well. I guess more for us,” Aika shrugged. She followed after Dorian, the two leaving the room. Isabelle gave me a little wave before heading out. Tsukasa just looked after them, shoulders slumping a bit. I gently grabbed his shoulder.

“Are you all right?” I asked.

“Oh, uh, yeah. I’m fine,” he replied. Again, another smile that didn’t quite meet his eyes. “Um, I’ll leave you be. You’ve probably got a lot of work to do.”

“Y-Yeah, I guess so…” It’s not like I could beg him to stay and he was right: I had a lot of stuff to unpack.

“I’ll see you later,” he said.

“Yeah! See you later.” Tsukasa nodded and turned around, leaving my dorm room. Well, that certainly happened. I tried to push the argument from my mind as I started to unpack. Right now, I just needed to focus on my studies and becoming an official student. If there were arguments, I just needed to ignore them. Drama would only distract me. But the look of quiet anger on Tsukasa’s face wouldn’t leave my mind.

#tsukasa kuze #wizardess heart #wizardess heart fanroute #tsukasa kuze: kind spirit

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cinnamonboleyn · 5 years ago

Text

The Perfect Moment

Proof that I cannot write a short fic. It’s physically impossible.

In all seriousness, I dreamt this up and fell in love with the idea. I think part of the reason why it’s so long is because I loved writing this version of the characters and did not want to stop.

(which is why I may continue on with this AU...)

This is also my first time writing a ship for this fandom, I’m not sure how I did but hopefully I did Parrlyn justice.

In summary: Katherine deserves to be loved, Anne is a chaotic older cousin with a heart of gold and Catherine is just trying to wrap her head around the situation while still being her supportive self.

Please enjoy :)

TW: Homophobia, implied past abuse, implied past conversion therapy.

Word count: 9526

It came up one lazy Saturday morning while Catherine was cuddling in bed with her favourite person in the world.

Anne had one arm around Catherine, pulling her close. Her other hand was being used to lovingly stroke her girlfriend’s curly dark hair. It was soothing and comforting enough to almost lull Catherine back to sleep.

Before that could happen, Anne dropped her hair and tapped her a few times on the shoulder. Catherine obligingly flipped over.

“Mhm? What is it, babe?”

She pulled her fingers through her messy brunette bed head. She was all the beautiful just the same.

“I want you to meet someone important to me today.”

Catherine raised an eyebrow. “I’ve already met your parents. Do you have a secret sibling you haven’t told me about?”

“No..” She hummed, “Well, practically my sibling if you really think about it. Her name is Katherine too, only spelt with a K. Katherine Howard. She’s my cousin.”

“Oh?” The small girl dug herself into the pillows to meet Anne’s gaze, “So you two are close?”

Boleyn nodded her head. Her eyes were darting around the room nervously, which was a state Cathy rarely got to see from her.

“She’s eight years younger than us, and she’s had a rough go at it. I don’t feel it’s my place to talk about it… but she’s very sweet, and polite, and the most fun person in the world if she lets her true self show…”

“Anne.”

Catherine planted a reassuring kiss on her girlfriend’s forehead, causing Boleyn to stop her rant.

“She sounds amazing, I can’t wait to meet her.”

It was good to see Anne’s smile back on her face.

“It’s going to be a great day.” She promised.

It took them fifteen more minutes to actually get out of bed (it’s too comfy under the covers and in each other’s arms), but finally they’re up and manage to get ready.

Catherine is told to dress prepared for anything. Unphased by her girlfriend’s spontaneous way of planning things, she decides on a black cardigan under a deep blue tee tucked into black jean shorts.

Grabbing her laptop, she set herself up at the kitchen table in their flat and decided to get some work done on her book before the day ahead of them.

Typing up a storm, Cathy took occasional pauses from the clacking of the keyboard and could hear Anne talking from the other room. From the way her voice went up two octaves and how was wasn’t speaking with her usual slang, she figured the girl was on her phone.

She continued with her work. After a bit, a mug was placed down next to her laptop which made her look up.

“A splash of milk, no sugar?”

Anne grinned from above. Catherine looked from the cup of coffee to the girl now clad in a black crop top and a green skater skirt.

“I have the sweetest girlfriend in the world.”

“Don’t mention it, Cathy.”

She continued with a smirk on her face.

“I’d make a cute waitress, wouldn’t I? Too bad I’m only on the menu for a select few.”

Anne winked. Catherine rolled her eyes, but the blush on her cheeks was apparent.

Continuing to type out her story, she was vaguely aware of her girlfriend shuffling through things in the cupboard and chopping things on a cutting board.

What she wasn’t expecting was when she finally tore herself away from her computer screen an hour later, was to find the entire kitchen counter was covered in food.

Bagels, muffins, eggs made in all of the ways you could possibly cook them. Every single fruit in their pantry was sliced and diced just about every way imaginable.

Anne held out in apple slice that was cut into the shape of a heart.

“For you, my love.” She faked a very posh accent, drawing a laugh from Parr.

“Why thank you, dearest,” Catherine returned the silly voice, “And might I add that you’re the apple of my eye.”

Boleyn snorted, which just made Catherine laugh all the harder. Soon they were laughing continuously and as soon as someone would stop the other person would start again.

This is my life. I get to live with my amazing, wonderful girlfriend.

After they finally managed to stop bursting into laughter every three seconds, Catherine asked,

“Why did you make so much food, anyways? I thought only Katherine was coming over?”

Cathy knew her girlfriend well enough to know that if she was the one making breakfast, she perfectly content with pulling a frozen eggo from the freezer and eating it as it is. Ice and all.

This was the most effort she’d seen her put into a meal in ages.

Anne shrugged. “I want to make sure there’s something she’ll eat.”

“That’s really sweet of you, babe,” Catherine smiled, tucking a few stray locks back behind Anne’s ear. “I’m not complaining anyhow. I won’t have to make breakfast for a whole week.”

The writer went to put away her laptop. She carefully helped Anne place all of the prepared food onto the kitchen table.

“A breakfast fit for a queen.” Catherine took a step back to admire the feast in front of them.

Anne followed, lacing her hand in between her partner’s. “A breakfast fit for my queen.”

The two shared a soft kiss. Even though they’d kissed a million times before, it never lost it’s passion or warmth for either of the women.

It was the perfect moment.

They sat idly at the table, waiting for their guest to arrive. They chatted, sometimes teasing each other playfully. At one point there was a competition to see who could throw up the most grapes and catch them in their mouths (Anne won that. And she rubbed it in, of course).

Three careful knocks sounded at their flat door.

Without waiting for a moment more, Anne took her girlfriend’s hand and led her down the hall to the front of their apartment. From the way she was holding her hand, Catherine could sense the nerves radiating from her.

To calm her, she started brushing a finger over Boleyn’s palm.

Arriving at the door, Anne took a deep breath before pulling it open.

Behind it stood two figures.

The first was a kindly looking woman with blonde hair cascading down her back in waves. She had a bright smile, one that was genuine as well as a sincere look in her brown eyes that gave Catherine an immediate sense of trust.

The second was definitely Katherine. The girl was taller than the woman and slim, but despite this still appeared very young. From her conversation with Anne before Catherine deduced that Katherine was seventeen years old, but honestly she would’ve placed her at about fifteen if she hadn’t known any better.

Her hair was in a high ponytail, the ends having been dyed an electric pink colour. Her long face was stoic and gave away no emotion, contrasting with the other person beside her.

Really, there wasn’t much resemblance at all between Katherine and the blonde stranger. Catherine saw more of a resemblance between her and Anne, not that it was the strongest resemblance ever but it was still there.

“Kitty!”

Anne lit up like a christmas tree at the sight of her cousin. Katherine’s lips twitched upwards and her eyes crinkled slightly, but it quickly faded to be replaced by her blank stare.

“Come in, come in, both of you.” Anne opened the door wider, allowing the guests to step inside.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Katherine. My name’s Catherine too; Catherine Parr.”

The pink-haired teen gave a small wave but didn’t seem confident enough to look her. Instead, she became very interested in the wooden floor.

“Lovely to meet you Catherine. I’m Jane Seymour.”

Always smiling, the blonde woman extended an arm to shake. Catherine accepted, and was further surprised when the handshake led into a sort of hug.

Jane did the same gesture with Anne.

“Thank you for reaching out to me, Jane.” Boleyn glanced down at her cousin, her words clearly sincere.

“No problem at all. I’m happy to do whatever I can for Katherine.”

As warm and caring as Jane’s voice was in saying this, they only seemed to further put the girl on edge. Her posture stiffened and she bowed her head down.

There was a bit of a pause that would’ve been awkward if Jane hadn’t broken the silence.

“I’ll be on my way then,” the woman flashed a smile. Katherine’s reaction didn’t seem to faze her at all, she didn’t show a hint of contempt towards the younger girl.

“Have fun, alright? If you need anything at all, don’t hesitate to ring me.”

“Thank you, Jane.”

These were the first words uttered by Katherine since she walked through the door. Her voice was so small that you had to lean in closer to make out what she was saying. It was uneven and unsure, and in noticing this Catherine couldn’t stop the faintest of frowns from forming on her lips.

So polite… yet so nervous?

“Goodbye, Kat.”

Jane gave the girl’s hand a squeeze before waving to the other two women and heading out.

“How’s my favourite cousin doing? It’s been so long! I’m in love with your hair, you look like a piece of bubblegum. In a good way!”

Anne made no move to hug the girl, but was clearly excited to see her again. They all started towards to kitchen, and Catherine couldn’t help but notice the way Katherine was taking cautious and measured steps, almost like she was sneaking up on someone.

Or away from someone.

Still, the corners of her lips upturned the smallest bit. She unconsciously played with a bit of her pink hair.

“I… I missed you, Anne.”

There had never been a more adorable phrase uddered.

Well, maybe except when Anne called Catherine my entire world. That was pretty adorable.

Katherine’s small voice and shy nature just made Catherine’s heart burst.

However, if you looked at Katherine’s face when they arrived the the feast layed out in front of them you would’ve had the impression that she was looking at a crime scene.

Anne picked up on the discomfort real fast.

“You can have whatever you’d like.” She reassured, “How about I fix you a plate with a little bit of everything and you can see what you like best?”

Katherine nodded stiffly.

Soon, three plates were fixed. Anne had a skyscraper of pancakes on hers with half of the bottle of syrup poured on top. Catherine physically blocked the freezer to keep Anne from putting scoops of ice cream on top.

Catherine’s own plate was packed with bacon, eggs and half a bagel. The last plate contained a variety of foods, just as promised.

Katherine poked at a blueberry muffin, ripping off small crumbs and eating them slowly.

“I’ve heard so many lovely things Katherine,” Parr tried, wanting to make the girl feel welcome.

“I’m very happy to have the chance to get to know you.”

Katherine’s eyes bulged out of her head.

Was it something I said?

“I’m so sorry, I haven’t even introduced myself!”

Katherine’s frantic apology concerned Parr, so she did her best to reassure the girl.

“No problem at all. I haven’t even introduced myself either, and you’re the guest. Besides,”

She smiled lightly to Katherine, who relaxed a bit in her chair.

“You’re Katherine Howard, no introduction needed. Isn’t that right, babe?”

“‘Ouw wight!” Boleyn piped up with a mouthful of pancakes. She swallowed before continuing. “Your awesomeness speaks for itself, Kitty.”

The girl lowered her head, her cheeks visibly heating up.

After a few more bites of food, Katherine regains the confidence to speak again.

“It’s nice to finally meet you too, Catherine.”

As shyly as she spoke, Catherine could tell how genuine she was being.

“I- I haven’t heard much about you, I really didn’t have the chance to be told… but I’m happy to be meeting you as well.”

Formal, sincere, yet also stilted and anxious all at once.

Sometimes, Cathy wished she wasn’t so observant. It felt wrong to be so aware of Katherine’s small behaviors, it wasn’t her intention to invade her privacy.

No amount of analysis would have made Catherine ready to hear the response to the next question asked.

For a while, Anne was comfortably chatting in her energetic way. Katherine didn’t seem to mind the fact that she could barely get a word in, in fact she seemed almost grateful for that.

After picking at everything on her plate, it seemed she’d taken a liking to the cut up fruit and dipped each piece into a bit of Nutella on her plate.

She even got up for seconds of the fruit. Anne beamed when that happened.

Katherine carefully sat back down, her posture perfect. Her elbows never even got close to touching the table.

But the big question came right after Kat popped a Nutella-dipped apple slice in her mouth:

“Kitty, how has your stay with Jane been so far?”

The girl took a second to think, although her facial expression gave no clues as to what was actually going through her head.

“She’s very nice… she hasn’t locked me in my room once yet! She keeps the pantry unlocked as well.”

Unluckily enough, Catherine ended up taking a sip of water at that exact moment and ended up choking on it.

Katherine and Anne both looked over, Parr muttering an apology and something about it going down the wrong tube to play it off.

“You don’t know how happy I am to hear that,” Anne continued with the conversation, “You deserve to be safe.”

“... It’s only been two weeks…”

She sounded utterly defeated about what she was implying.

And Catherine wasn’t about to have that.

“I’ve just met you, Katherine. I don’t know your situation and I can’t even begin to imagine it. But what I know for sure is that you’re always welcome here and if anything happens in the future you will always have a place here.”

The pink-haired girl didn’t seem entirely convinced or reassured.

“... Thank you.”

Proving things like that will take some time.

It’s not going to happen all in one day.

Still, Katherine deserves to hear it be said.

It was clear to the writer at this point that Katherine was in foster care. Really, that didn’t make a difference at all because it’s not something that defines a person.

Catherine focused on the soft-spoken, mindful girl in front of her and couldn’t wait to get to know her for her.

Anne Boleyn was one of the best people at small talk in the world, which helped kick the upbeat chatter back into gear. Through the following conversation, she found out that Katherine was in Year 12. She enjoys music and singing, according to Anne she’s the next Brittany Spears.

“Do you have any pets this time around?”

Kat shook her head in response to her cousin.

“The fur isn’t great for Jane. But her neighbor has rescues and she lets me come over to give them treats and play with them! Her name is Anna, she’s a tattoo artist.”

Something else that Catherine noticed was that when Katherine got excited about something, her eyes lit up in pure joy. It was really nice to see.

She eagerly discussed the dog’s names and preferred chew toys as they finished the rest of their food.

Once everyone was finished eating, Anne took the plates and put them all in the sink.

“I’m about ready to head out,” She grinned, an air of playfulness about her. “Are you ready, Kitty?”

Looking up at her cousin curiously, she asks, “Where are we off too?”

“The fair’s in town!”

Anne jumped up from her chair and let out and excited giggle. Katherine joins in with a light laugh and a smile that Catherine never wanted to see go away.

The pair definitely looked related at that moment. Even if Katherine settled down from her excitement quickly (kind of like she was forcing it down or stifling it?), they basically had the same reaction.

Which Catherine thought was absolutely adorable.

“I can’t think of a better way to spend the afternoon.” Catherine piped up. Walking over to her girlfriend she wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

Anne leaned into the touch, resting her head on Cathy’s shoulder. The writer couldn’t help but press a kiss onto her partner’s forehead.

Catherine immediately regretted doing that when Kat flinched away.

It was as if the sight hurt her somehow.

“I’ll - wait in the car.”

Katherine scampered out of the room, moving quickly yet silently.

Anne watched her leave with a sigh. Catherine turned to her girlfriend with a questioning look.

“Is she alright? Did we do something wrong?”

“Kissing you could never be wrong,” Anne teased. Her girlfriend’s cheeks started involuntarily turning crimson.

“I know her reaction wasn’t, well, the warmest… it’s all just very complicated. Thank you for being so patient-“

“No need to thank me.” Catherine asserted, “It’s the least I could do. I’ll accommodate Katherine in any way she needs me to. And I meant what I said to her.”

Anne didn’t respond with words, by enveloped the smaller woman in a big hug and nothing else needed to be said.

They headed out to the car. Boleyn slipped into the driver’s seat, and Catherine was about to slide into the passenger seat but decided to sit next to Katherine in the back instead.

Kat seemed surprised by this, but didn’t tense up in anyway. Catherine even swore she saw a ghost of a smile on the girl’s lips as she buckled her seatbelt.

As the drove onto the road, the writer asked:

“How did you two get to know each other?”

“Oh, I’ve known Kitty since she was a baby. Suddenly I didn’t get any of the attention at our family gatherings.” Anne faked a pout.

“I remember following you around the yard when I was really little,” Kat recalled, “I remember once you pelted an acorn at Isaac’s car. The alarm went off and you blamed it on me.”

Catherine burst out laughing at that, Anne giving a sheepish grin.

“Leave it to Anne Boleyn to get you in trouble.”

Katherine cracked a small grin.

“But there were fun times too. There was the time that I begged you to put pink flowers we’d found in the near the ditch in my hair, and you said you weren’t all that great at that sort of thing… but you did it, and I loved it and didn’t take the flowers out until I was made to. Stuff like that meant a lot to me, especially as we both got older…”

“It meant a lot to me too.” Anne replied, “And for the record, I still don’t think Isaac knows I was the one who scratched his car.”

Katherine lifted her head curiously towards Cathy.

“So, how did you and Anne meet?”

This question caught Catherine off guard, for some reason. Luckily, Anne jumped in right away.

“High school, of all places. Wish I could say it was somewhere actually worth the time of day,” Boleyn made a face of disgust.

“We were in Year 11 actually. How could you not fall for this one when she slanders the patriarchy by correcting the approach our education system takes to historical events?”

She winks for added effect.

Katherine just looks absolutely lost.

“I… have no idea what you just said.”

“Most of what Anne says flies right over my head. And I’m dating her.”

“You find it charming.” She quips back, sticking out her tongue.

The conversation comes to a close. The driver flicks the radio on to avoid spending the rest of the ride in silence.

Some pop station was playing, and the passengers had a blast singing along to the songs playing and attempting to harmonize (which sometimes failed horribly). Katherine even joined in during particular parts, but never sang louder than a soft whisper.

They eventually found parking just down the street from the fair.

“Let’s go!”

Anne latched onto the arms of her girlfriend and her cousin before taking off down the sidewalk. Katherine was laughing the whole way, and as for Catherine, she was used to these antics at this point.

The three of them paid for their bright purple wristbands for admission into the fair and their senses were immediately overwhelmed.

The sounds of a roller coaster clicking down its track and gleefully screaming children, the smell of funnel cake and churros wafting through the air, the sights of all of the people out with their families…

Catherine snuck a glance at the two girls beside her, who were taking everything in with a smile.

“Watchya wanna do first, Kitty?” Anne asked.

“Well…” Kat shuffled her feet on the gravel beneath her, refusing to look her cousin in the eyes.

“Maybe we could do some of the rides for a bit? While the lines are still down? Unless, you guys want to do something else…”

“That’s a great idea.” Catherine reassured.

After paying for another green fluorescent wristband for their left hand, they were equipped to do as many rides as they wanted.

Anne chose the first one, taking the group over to one called The Zipper. It was basically a rotating frame covered in flashing lights with a bunch of free-flipping compartments to hold riders. It was one of the most intense rides at the fair, which is of course why it was Anne’s favourite (even though the bumper carts were a close second).

They tried every single ride there. The girls all packed into a seat on the scrambler, making sure Katherine was in the middle because the people at the sides inevitably get squished.

They spent a while racing each other on the slides, Catherine high-fiving Kat every time she managed to beat her cousin.

They walked through the fun house, they spun as fast as they possibly could on the spinning teacups and Catherine was just happy that she hadn’t thrown up her brunch.

If she had to choose her favourite ride, she would’ve said the roller coaster. Not that it was the most thrilling experience, but she enjoyed watching the way Kat and Anne would cheer and scream at the drops and sharp turns.

She was just glad they were all having a great time together.

And really, Anne was right when she said her cousin was a very fun person given the chance. A lot of her worried behaviours melted away, no longer putting a mask over her emotions.

This became clear whenever Katherine took the other two on her favourite rides. She enjoyed the merry-go-round (which she looked slightly embarrassed by), but Anne was great at always requesting it and Katherine would agree with a nod.

Katherine’s favourite, as well as their combined favourite ride was without a doubt the Ferris wheel.

“I love how you can see everything from up here. It makes you feel less small.” She solemnly spoke the first time they rode it.

Anne assured her that even if that was the case, she would always be her baby cousin.

On their fifth ride of the Ferris wheel, Katherine’s guard was almost completely gone. She snuggled into her cousin as they went up in the air, looking as if there was nowhere else she’d rather be.

Anne looked over at Cathy while this was happening. There was so much emotion in her eyes that the writer had trouble parsing them out, but it was clear that she reciprocated Katherine’s feelings.

After two and a half hours spent in the beating sun out on rides, they decided it was time for a break.

“Would you like to check out what��s going on at the main stage, Kitty?”

“That sounds like fun.” She agreed.

The three headed over to find a spot on the bleachers. It looked like there was a magician’s act happening on stage.

“I’m going to do something real quick,” Anne said once they found their place, “Would you like to come with me, Kat? Or do you want to stay here?”

Her eyes darted between the girl in blue next to her, the stage in front of her, and her chaotic cousin.

“I’ll - be good here.”

Anne skipped away, leaving the two girls alone.

A comfortable silence set in as they watched the magic tricks being performed.

“How are you enjoying the fair so far?” Parr questioned.

“I’m having a great time.” She looked at her with her sincere brown eyes.

“Thank you so much for this, Catherine.”

Katherine’s eyes wandered shyly. She still didn’t look completely comfortable, but that kind of thing takes time.

Catherine was happy to wait as long as the girl needed her to.

“I’m glad Anne suggested we do this today. I’m having fun spending time with you. Plus,” she paused, nodding her head in the direction that Boleyn beaded off,

“I guess having my goofball of a girlfriend around isn’t so bad either.”

Katherine giggled lightly at this comment.

“What’s so funny?”

Anne took back her seat at the end of the bleacher row, a bowl of something between her hands.

“Oh, nothing… what’ve you got there?” Cathy asked.

The woman smirked, tilting the bowl so the two other could see. Three spoons were sticking out of several colourful scoops of-

“Ice cream!”

Katherine smiles, eyeballing the pink scoop. “You remembered that this is my favourite.”

“Not like it was difficult. Anything pink is your favourite.” She pointed out, turning to address her girlfriend.

“You can try, but no one gets in between me and my ice cream.”

“I swear babe, you run on nothing but refined sugar.”

“Just the way I like it.”

She passed the ice cream over to Kat who was sitting in the middle of the three of them. They snacked as they watched an audience member vanish for inside a box. Catherine even gave in and had few bites, leaving the strawberry for the pink-haired girl.

“Hey, look who it is!”

Anne emphatically pointed to someone at the bottom of the bleachers.

Inspecting her from the back, the woman’s perfect posture and curly black locks were a dead giveaway as to who it was.

“How many Catherine’s can we have in the same area?” Cathy quipped playfully.

Anne started yelling for the woman in a shrill and singsongy voice. “CATALINA!”

She turned around to look for the source of the noise, and must’ve figured out who it was because she headed up the bleachers to where they were sitting.

“Anne Boleyn!” The curly hair woman asserted fiercely. “I thought we agreed you would never call me that in public again.”

The girl in green just shrugs. “Teasing you is too much fun for me to stop.”

Parr butted into their argument. “Hello, Catherine. Lovely to see you again.”

Catherine nodded cordially, somehow not bowing her head in the process.

“It’s nice to see you too. And who might this be?”

Before Cathy can process what is happening, Kat is curling into her side. Her eyes show the most fear Catherine had seen from anyone before.

It must’ve been an instinct, because she responded by placing a protective arm over the teen’s knees without a second thought.

“Catherine, this is my cousin, also Katherine.” Anne introduced slowly, probably sensing the shift in mood.

“Kitty, this is our friend Catherine Aragon.”

She said the friend very carefully and deliberately.

Katherine’s eyes dart to Aragon for a second, and spare managed to follow her gaze up to where she’d been zoning in on.

What seemed to bother her was Catherine’s necklace of all things.

Before that could be dwelled on too much Katherine was back to staring at her shoes without adding anything to the conversation.

“Three Catherines? Have we broken a record or something?” The standing woman sarcastically adds, but even she knows something’s off.

“I’m the special one!” Anne declares, quickly adding:

“But that’s always the case anyways. Right babe?”

Catherine looked at her girlfriend quizzically.

Um, maybe not the for one-liners?

“Yes…?” It came out more like a question, not that she didn’t think her girlfriend was the most special woman in the universe, but maybe when the teenager you’re responsible for is looking at your friend like she’s seen a ghost it isn’t the best time to point it out?

Just a thought?

Then Boleyn gave her a look, a bright-eyed slightly vulnerable look that told her everything she needed to know.

Trust me on this.

Anne grabbed both of her girlfriend’s hands, pulling her off of the bleachers. She was now standing in front of her.

Boleyn stood up, cupped Catherine’s face softly with her hands and pulled her into a kiss.

Naturally, Catherine was surprised by this but quickly relaxed into the kiss. They pulled away after a few seconds and she could practically feel the redness creeping up her face.

“I’m happy for you two, but I sincerely hope you haven't been snogging all day in front of the poor girl.”

Everyone turned to look at the mentioned teen, who looked… in complete shock.

Anne fluttered her eyelashes innocently.

“Only a little.”

“Well, this has definitely been an experience… I better head back down, I was saving spots for the pageant. Deborah says it’s a tradition… a superficial one, but is she knows someone in it then it’s good to support them.”

Aragon spoke directly to Kat. “I’m happy to have met you. Hopefully I see you around.”

As the woman walked away, Catherine got one last good look at her necklace;

It was a dainty thing, it looked like pure gold. It was a simply cross on a small chain, the charm hanging only a few inches below her neck.

“How are you doing?”

Anne put a hand on her cousin's shoulder.

Kat blinked a few times, seemingly at a loss.

She whispered something after a while of silence. It was so quiet that the writer could barely hear, but from what she was able to put together she said:

“You’re so… comfortable.”

Anne apparently had no trouble hearing the girl and answered. “It gets much easier when you know it’s safe. Sometimes, it isn’t though, and it’s okay to be cautious. Smart, even.”

Catherine still couldn’t figure out the reason that Katherine was uncomfortable, not that it mattered.

“Let’s go check out more of the fair, yeah?”

Anne grinned adventurously, extending an arm to Katherine. It took her a bit to stand up, but eventually she did and the three headed off the bleachers and away from the main stage.

They found themselves in the market section. Stands were set up in small colourful tents, selling things from candles to jewelry to very tacky bedazzled purses.

It turned into a game of finding the most ridiculous thing for the other person to wear.

Boleyn found a hideous Hawaiian shirt for Catherine to try on, but she got her back with an awful looking cowboy hat.

Anne found some strange earrings that were basically felt flowers connectected together in a foot long strand.

“This is perfect for you, Kitty!”

The pink haired girl was facing a rack of dresses, but it was as if she could see through it.

She was completely zoned out.

“Kitty?”

Snapping back to reality, Katherine almost knocked over the rack she was standing in front of. Luckily, Catherine sprang forward to keep it from tipping over.

“What’s on your mind, Kat?”

“Nothing…” She fumbled with her hands, balancing slightly on her toes.

“It’s, it’s stupid….”

“Hey. If it matters to you, then no it isn’t.”

Parr really wanted Katherine to understand, so she tried looking her in the eyes.

She averted her gaze, but spoke up.

“C-Catherine, Catherine Aragon, she - mentioned another woman. Deborah. Do you know who that is?”

Wracking her brain to think if she knew anyone with that name, Catherine came up dry. Her girlfriend shook her head as well.

“Why do you ask?”

“... No reason.”

“You’re sure there’s nothing else?” Anne tries gently.

Kat shook her head, walking out of the vendor’s tent signalling the end of the conversation. The two adults give each other a glance of let’s keep our guard up before walking out to join her.

As they continue to check out the sights of the fair, Katherine’s gaze lingers on a sparkly unicorn plush hanging from a game booth.

… Which of course, means that Anne immediately circles back around and slaps money on the counter.

“Hit me with some bean bags!”

It was a traditional knock-em-down game, with metal bottles lines up on some shelves.

Anne lobbed the first few bean bags, managing to knock out half of the bottles.

Cathy throws a few as well, getting a few good shots in. Kat insisted that her aim was abysmal and she was going to waste all of their money but after some prodding, she joined in too.

When there was only one bottle left, Kat was the only one with a bean bag left to throw.

“I don’t know if I can do this… maybe one of you should take it.”

“You’ve got this Kitty. I know you do.” Anne firmly encouraged.

“Wind up as far as you can, and throw hard.” Catherine added. “You’ve already got a feel for it, so you have it in the bag.”

Reluctantly following the writer’s instructions, the teen carefully lined up the shot.

Taking a deep breath, she gripped the object in her hand tightly.

Then she sent it hurtling forward, crashing directly into the bottle, sending it tumbling to the ground.

“Yes!”

“You did it!”

Katherine wrapped her arms around her cousin, jumping up and down excitedly.

It was impossible for Catherine not to beam at the sight.

After the rush of excitement the teen made a shy gesture towards the plush she wanted. The game attended happily got it down.

Kat squeezes it close to her. “Her name is Bling Bling Sparkle Bling Bling,” She said more self-assured then Catherine would’ve been saying that name out loud, “But we’ll call her Sparkie for short.”

“Well, I think I’ve got the perfect place for Sparkie to check out with us…”

Boleyn lead the way (again), that is, until Katherine noticed the large barn coming into view and realized where they were headed.

“Letsgoletsgoletsgo!”

She latched onto the two adults hands and pulled them forward with more force then Anne had when they were first arriving at the carnival.

The excitement was even more clear when they got into the barn.

Katherine absolutely loved animals.

She was so gentle with each one, even the pigs and birds and the one chicken that tried pecking at her finger.

Her soft approach with each one was something to witness. It was a gift.

Anne seemed to think so too. “Kitty’s going to be a veterinarian when she’s older.”

“Come on, Anne..” The mentioned girl shook her head while petting a bunny’s fluffy white fur, “I’m not smart enough for that.”

“School does not dictate how smart you are. I almost failed out of my senior year, and the only reason I didn’t is because I had Cathy to help me through. You are plenty smart and then some, Katherine Howard.”

Kat furrowed her brows in disagreement, but said nothing and continued petting the rabbit.

They continued to look around for a while. At some point, a handler for the two horses popped in to give them some food and he let Katherine feed them some grain.

He was impressed with her skills, telling her that he wished he’d of been as calm the first time he’d ever fed a horse.

Truth be told they could’ve spent the rest of the day in there, but Anne suggested they go see if the rides were lit up now that it was getting later.

Even though the sun was still out, a few of the booths and displays were lit up in neon. That, combined with the quieter atmosphere of the later time made walking through the fair and taking everything in a great time all on its own.

Of course, the company helped.

Her girlfriend was by her side, as was a pink-haired girl who she loved to see happy more than anything.

Katherine was a lot calmer than earlier, her worries no longer apparent. Maybe it was the animals, maybe it was something else…

But she had her arm linked with her cousin and a big contagious smile on her face.

The mask was gone.

Maybe that wasn’t such a good thing.

Because as they passed by the food vendors, a certain Spanish woman noticed them passing by.

She pointed the group out to a woman standing next to her and the two stepped out of line to meet up with them.

Katherine stopped dead in her tracks. Unlinking arms with Anne, she planted her feet firmly on the ground.

“Katherine?” Parr called to the girl, concerned.

Sadly, Anne had stepped in front to greet Catherine and the stranger so was unaware of the scene happening behind her.

“Catalina! I’m surprised to see you haven’t run off in the opposite direction when you saw us coming up.”

“I’m surprised that they’ve been able to put up with you for this long.” Catherine shot back.

“Deborah, this is Anne Boleyn. I’m sure you may have to impression that we’re very civil from that exchange, but that’s really just how our friendship is.”

“Catalina absolutely adores me.” Anne drawled, then turned to the other woman. “Nice to meet you, Deborah.”

She nodded stiffly in reply. The woman had a similar posture to Aragon in that she held her head high, but unlike Aragon it was as if she was looking down on everyone else.

Her eyes darted away from Anne and to the pair in front of her.

“Katherine!?”

The teen inched closer to Cathy. Her bottom lip was quivering, and she looked absolutely terrified.

This was something much more than just the nerves she had when being introduced to Aragon earlier.

Something’s wrong here.

Anne glanced back at the woman’s words, finally aware of her little cousin’s state.

“Is.. is something the matter?” Anne was completely lost, as was Aragon.

“I would hope not.” Deborah insisted.

She took a few steps closer to Katherine, who yelped and latched onto Parr’s arm as if her life depended on it. Curling in on the older woman, she was shaking slightly.

“It’s been ages, Katherine. I see you’ve ruined your hair while you’ve been away.”

Kat’s hold only tightened around Parr, whimpers falling from her lips.

“Deborah!” Aragon was clearly disturbed by her friend’s sudden behaviour.

“You can call me out of line all you want, but I’ve tried my best to save Katherine from the depths of hell.”

Deborah took another step closer. This time, Catherine stepped protectively in front of the teen.

“All your parents did was try and save you! And you repay them with prison time? You’re a devil child, Katherine Howard. You’re beyond rescue. The lord stands with me on this.”

Anne wasn’t dealing with any of this. “You better stop spouting your lies and leave and leave right now before I report you-”

The pressure on Cathy’s arm lifted suddenly.

Tears falling down her cheeks, Katherine bolted away without looking back.

“Katherine!”

Three voices called after her.

But it was no use.

The Spanish woman was fuming.

“I can’t believe you! How dare you speak to anyone that way, let alone a sixteen year old! Have you no decency? And you bring the Lord’s name to your awful behaviour!”

Even Deborah cowered under Catherine’s angry gaze. She could be very threatening when she wanted to be, which served her well in a time like this.

“Catherine, I thought surely you of all people would understand where I’m coming from.”

“There’s no one who could possibly understand where you’re coming from, me least of all!”

Deborah wasn’t backing down. “She’s a deviant, Catherine! An abomination!”

“Leave. NOW.”

Catherine’s voice was scarily unmoving and calm.

Deborah couldn’t help but shoot one last look of disapproval at Anne and Cathy before stalking off.

As soon as the woman was gone, Aragon’s narrowed eyes and clenched jaw soften into a look of desperate remorse.

“I can’t believe she… I had no idea… I’m so sorry, you two.”

“It wasn’t you, Catherine. We know your true views and know that you would never associate yourself with anyone who thinks that way.”

The Spanish woman nodded the information away as Anne spoke up.

“We need to find Kat.”

They decided splitting up would be the best plan of attack. Catherine went off to the left where the stage was, Anne headed back towards the ride which meant Cathy was in charge of searching the south part of the fair.

Scanning everywhere she passed for the girl, her search came up dry.

Until a red barn came back into view and she knew exactly where she was headed.

“Katherine?”

Continuing to call her name, she passed through the barn before circulating the outside.

After rounding the corner of the barn she saw a familiar pink-haired teen crumpled into a ball on the ground clutching a violet plush to her chest.

“Katherine…”

Startled brown eyes peeked up for a second.

Catherine could feel her heart ripping apart at the sadness that they held.

Kat burrowed them back into her stuffed animal, continuing to cry her eyes out.

“Hey..”

The writer took a seat next to the girl, placing a stable hand on her shoulder.

“It’s going to be alright. The woman is gone, and she won’t be coming anywhere near you. I won’t let that happen.”

Katherine slowly lifted lifted her head to look at Parr.

Her face was red and wet, but underneath it all, it was impossible to miss how vulnerable she was.

“I hope you know that none of what she said was true. You, Katherine Howard, are an amazing kid who deserves so much more than what she got. And you’ve got stellar hair.”

Kat let out a small huff which Catherine hoped was her trying to laugh. She played with the tips of her hair between her fingers.

The writer pulled the sleeve of her cardigan over her hand and wiped away some of the tears trailing down her face.

“I’m sorry… I was so scared… I had to get out of there…”

“Don’t ever apologize for being scared. It’s not something to be sorry for.”

Catherine gave a comforting smile.

“And I want you to know that you aren’t wrong for changing your look. Dye your hair pink, get a nose ring, heck you could even shave your eyebrows off, and you’re not wrong for doing it. Nobody should tell you how to express yourself.”

Katherine slowly leaned closer to Parr, resting her head on her shoulder. Giving her affection that she previously had only wanted from Anne.

Parr’s heart soared as they stayed like this for a while. She was happy to be a source of comfort.

“.... A lot of bad people, they wanted to make me feel bad about who I am.”

Catherine nodded her head to show the girl she was giving her her full attention. Kat fumbled with her left sleeve as she spoke.

“Some of them were doing it out of love. Out of wanting my soul to be saved. But that doesn’t excuse what they did to hurt me.”

Katherine tentatively pushed up her sweater sleeve and and flipped her arm over.

Right below her wrist, there was a medium sized tattoo of a pink, white, and red heart.

“Anna did this for me. After everything I’ve been through, it felt right. Even if I’m not ready to show it to everyone yet. I know it’s there. And now, you do too.”

Catherine took the younger girl’s hands in hers. “It makes me happy you shared this with me. Thank you for trusting me. The tattoo is beautiful.”

“I do trust you. Maybe it was silly of me to keep it this long because I know you and Anne are together-“

“It’s not silly at all. We all get ready in our own time. Can I tell you more of the story about how I got to know your cousin?”

Katherine nodded eagerly.

“Well, it was in Year 12 like Anne said. It was the first year we had classes together. I remember in History she sat diagonally from me, and I wouldn’t be able to focus because I was staring at her.”

Catherine quickly added, “Don’t tell her I said that. It will inflate her ego even more.”

The teen giggled lightheartedly.

“Eventually, our History teacher paired us together on a research paper and we got to talking. We started to get to know each other. I remember not being able to understand why she’d want to talk to me of all people…”

“Sometimes people would mutter hateful things under their breaths at us. But one day, it came to a head when an older guy came up while I was talking to Anne and pushed me to the ground. He was shouting derogatory words and spit in my face.”

“After that happened, I was terrified. I isolated myself from Anne, thought it would be better if I stopped these feelings from happening. But it wasn’t. I was sad, and confused, and all I wanted to do was get rid of who I really was…”

Katherine cut in. “I understand that. That’s how I felt, too.”

“Anne was so patient. We spent time hanging out outside of school, and little by little I got comfortable with being together in front of others. Holding hands in front of others. Anne mattered so much more than anyone else’s opinion did.”

Her mind wandered back to their first kiss.

Anne asked her to be her date to the end of school dance, and of course she said yes.

They had the best night ever, and during a slow dance Catherine knew in that moment she was ready.

She leaned in, softly kissing her girlfriend on the lips.

It was in front of the whole school, but Catherine didn’t even register that anyone else was there.

It was just her and Anne.

No one else mattered.

“I don’t know how they mistreated you, Katherine. You don’t ever have to tell me if you don’t want to. But you didn’t deserve any of it. Just know that it will get better. No matter how long it takes or how hard it is, you’re a fighter. And we’ll be by your side every step of the way.”

Kat pulled the woman next to her into a hug. This one wasn’t desperate or pleading or fearful: it was gentle and caring.

Her mask was gone.

It was really her.

Catherine cherished the hug for every moment it lasted, making sure she wasn’t the first to let go.

The teen pulled away, glancing down at the drawing on her arm again.

“Someday, I’ll be able to wear short sleeves and let everyone see this. But for now, I’m happy with you, Anna, and Anne knowing. I mean, Anne doesn’t know about the tattoo but I think you understand.”

“I hope you know the minute you show Anne this tattoo she’s gonna be jealous and want one too.”

Katherine laughed again. “You guys could get matching couples tattoos! That’d be really cool.”

Catherine ruffled the younger girl’s hair affectionately.

“Maybe someday, kid.”

She stood up, extending an arm to Kat.

“Let’s go find your cousin, how about that?”

Kat accepted and let Cathy help her off the ground. They walked through the rides section of the park, the lights now all activated and casting pretty purples and blues around the whole fair.

Katherine was right at her side, their arms brushing gently due to their close proximity.

It felt right.

“Kitty!”

A relieved Anne Boleyn ran up and scooped her little cousin into a hug. “Are you alright?”

Kat’s brown eyes met Cathy’s as she responded. “Yes, I am.”

Anne semi-pulled out of the hug, but only to pull her girlfriend in closer.

“I’ve got you two. And I’m never letting go.”

The embrace lasted for a while. Anne was holding on the tightest, which was much different than what usually happened when she gave out hugs.

“Kitty… how did you know that woman?” Her tone was serious and strained.

“I don’t know her very well,” Katherine said quickly, almost like she was trying to reassure her cousin. “She started coming to our church when I started secondary school.”

Her voice started to hitch.

“She’s seen a few things happen… she supported what they were doing.”

That only made Anne let out a shaky breath and pull them both tighter.

Catherine didn’t know anything about what happened to Kat. She didn’t expect to be told, she didn’t feel she deserved to know in the slightest; it was Katherine’s story to tell, after all.

But with the flinching while watching her and Anne kiss, with the references Katherine made to being hurt for expressing herself, the way every move she was almost too perfect as if to try and please someone else and the religious overtones to it all…

Not to mention her parents were in jail.

It was hard to wrap her head around.

Katherine deserves the world.

They stayed clumped together in that huddle group as they shuffled towards the exit of the carnival. After the tiring events of the day, the three of them were ready to cozy up at home.

Anne sent a text to Aragon before starting the car. Buckling herself in, Katherine asked, “Do you guys think we could do movie night at your place? I mean, if you have the time-”

“That’s a great idea Kat. Thank you for suggesting it.”

The ride went by much faster the way back then it did the way there. Once they arrived at home, Catherine and Kat got to work pulling all of the pillows and warm blankets they could find from all of the rooms in the house.

Katherine bundled herself up in a fluffy white blanket. Parr sat cross-legged on the couch next to her as they scrolled through movie options on Netflix. The second Matilda popped up in their suggestions, Kat perked up and requested it. Catherine had never seen it before but was excited to watch it.

Anne had gone to the other room to make a phone call and explained in hushed whispers the events that transpired earlier. She joined the two others after hanging up.

“Jane’s on her way over. I thought it would be nice if she joined us for the movie.” Katherine nodded and smiled at her cousin’s explanation.

“I wonder if Jane has seen Matilda. It’s Catherine’s first time, too.”

“You’ve never seen Matilda?!? How have we gone our whole relationship without watching it? This is a crime.”

Anne plopped down at her own spot on the couch. “Remember when we used to watch this, Kitty? We used to pretend we had telekinesis all of the time. This must’ve been our favourite thing to watch together.”

“I do.” Katherine recalled fondly. “And it still is. My favourite movie, I mean.”

Stealing a shy glance at her cousin, she added; “I don’t think that’s going to change.”

The three settled in as the movie began to play. Not even five minutes in, there was a knock at the door.

Anne got up to answer it, and returned with a slightly disheveled yet still kindly blonde.

“Kat!”

Katherine kicked the blanket off of herself and got up to initiate a hug with Jane. When they first walked in together at the beginning of the day Catherine hadn’t pegged them as being very close, but this hug changed her perception quite a bit.

“I’m so happy you’re okay, love.”

“I had people there to help me. Besides, I won’t let that woman ruin what was a really amazing day otherwise.”

“I’m so proud of you. You’re a strong one, Katherine Howard.”

Katherine guided her foster mom over to the couch. Jane admitted to never seeing Matilda either, which earned her a very over-dramatic reaction from Anne.

“Did either of you have childhoods? I’m appalled.”

They continued to watch. Catherine had to admit it was the perfect way to cap off their day, Kat was right on with her suggestion. It was nice to be warm and cozy and together.

A half an hour in, there was a second knock at the door.

This time, the writer got up to answer it albeit albeit confused since they weren’t expecting anyone else. Kat insisted on pausing the movie so that she could “get the full experience”.

Pulling the door open, behind it was none other than Aragon.

The curly hair woman stood stiffly, an apologetic look in her eyes. A pristine white envelope was clutched tightly in her hands.

“-Catherine.”

The mentioned Catherine put a hand on the older woman’s shoulder, trying to calm her down.

“Hey. We found Kat, she’s doing great and wanted to have a movie night. Is everything alright?”

Aragon shook her head.

“No, it’s not alright. I let myself associate with someone with those kinds of views, someone who is against everything that I stand for. I’m not sure what her history is with Katherine, but either way I noticed how uncomfortable she was around me and should’ve been more careful introducing her to others.”

She extended the letter towards Cathy. “I’m not sure she would be comfortable with seeing me face to face, so I wrote out an apology for her. I just want her to know that I’m sorry-”

“How about we let Katherine decide?”

Cathy went back in the house, and after a brief discussion the pink haired girl followed her back to where Aragon was standing.

“Hi.”

Kat waved shyly.

“Katherine… I wanted to apologize for what happened earlier.”

The teen’s eyebrows raised. “Why? You haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Not directly, but I could’ve done more to prevent that confrontation. When we first met you were uneasy, I should’ve taken that as cue to keep my distance… but instead, I put you in that situation. I’m so, so sorry Katherine. I would like you to know that I don’t share the same views as that woman at all, I don’t even know her very well…”

Catherine passed her letter the younger girl.

“I wrote you this.”

Katherine stepped forward and took the envelope. Tearing it open, her eyes scanned the paper inside.

As she continued reading, tears pricked her eyes and her breathing got heavier until she was weeping.

Aragon was horrified.

“I didn’t mean to make you cry-”

“No - no,” Katherine gave a watery smile, “It’s not like that.”

Pulling the letter close to her chest, she began to explain.

“Most adults don’t apologize… they think it’s beneath them to do that, especially if it’s to a kid. Even though you don’t have anything to be sorry about, it means a lot that you did this.”

The older woman shook her head, beginning to get teary herself.

“Of course, Katherine. I truly am sorry.”

She swatted at her tears with her palms and took a deep breath.

“I should be heading out so you can get back to your movie. Have a good night-”

“Catherine, wait.”

Kat shuffled forwards again, intertwining her hand with Aragon.

“Please stay. I want you here.”

She tilted her head towards Cathy. “If that’s alright with you two.”

The writer quickly nodded. “Catherine’s always welcome here. Maybe it’ll be her first time watching Matilda as well.”

“If you’re sure you want me to stay then… I’m happy to, Katherine. What did you say we were watching? Matilda?”

Katherine all but dragged her inside. “You’re going to love it!”

Catherine exchanges pleasantries with the rest of the woman inside. Jane introduces herself warmly as the movie continues to play.

The woman took a seat on a chair next to the sofa. Seeing as there wouldn’t be enough room for the four of them to sit on the couch, Parr happily sat down on the floor.

To her surprise, Katherine did the same. She took back her blanket and wrapped it around them both.

The movie continued for a while. Anne and Katherine would sometimes interject to tell a story relating a scene to their childhood. Soon, Anne had slid off of the couch entirely and slung her arm around her cousin and her girlfriend.

Sat there, surrounded by her friends, sitting next to Anne and Katherine who were both grinning from ear to ear….

It was the perfect moment.

She was so thankful for that moment.

She was so thankful that Katherine was now in her life.

#six the musical #six #six the musical fanfiction #six the musical fanfic #katherine howard #anne boleyn #catherine of aragon #catherine parr #jane seymour #parrlyn

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chilling-seavey · 5 years ago

Text

Anything But Mine (d.s.) - Chapter Twenty-Nine

A/N i’m moving home from residence today...moving everything out by myself. My dorm room looks so weird and empty without my 35 pictures of Daniel taped to my wall 😛

Monday, August 10th, 2020

Florence was more than thankful for having Callum staying with her throughout her adjustment from one kid to two. Her sleep schedule was completely destroyed once again from having to wake up almost every two hours to feed or tend to the newborn. Being a two bedroom apartment, Penelope was in the master with Florence and Callum was stuck on the couch but their setup worked and after simply a week and a half they had a routine down. Callum helped as much as he could, although helping was more tending to Clementine who was still getting used to sharing everything - especially attention - with the baby.

Florence usually woke up for the day around 6am, finding Callum making breakfast in the kitchen, Clementine in the her highchair beside him in her pyjamas. By then, Penelope was ready for yet another feeding and a change and with tired eyes Florence got her into her day clothes. When breakfast was ready, Florence laid the baby in her rocker and sat down for her own meal.

“What would we do without you?” Florence sighed happily through a mouthful of scrambled eggs.

“I don’t even want to think about the mess you’d be in.” Callum teased, joining her at the table.

“When are you needing to go back to LA?” Florence asked.

“Whenever you want me gone.” Callum shrugged.

“I’d keep you here forever if I could.” Florence smiled, reaching over to set a hand on his. Callum returned the smile, silently taking in the disheveled appearance of his once ever so graceful sister; her matted blonde hair, dark circles under her eyes, and old sweatpants that had a few unexplainable stains on the thighs. Regardless of how she physically reflected the troubles of life, Callum loved her none the less and admired her consistent strength.

“Have you heard from Matt?”

It was out of his mouth before he could stop it and Florence, although possibly coincidentally, pulled her hand back.

“No.” she scooped another forkful of egg. “I don’t think I will either.”

“But you’re okay?”

“More than okay, Cal. Who can complain, really?” Florence shrugged, offering a smile to Clementine who was wearing more of her breakfast than she had eaten. “Right, Clemmy?”

The toddler simply smiled a wide grin, her eyes scrunching closed and her head falling back a little.

“You lucked out with this one.” Callum chuckled, eyeing the seemingly always happy toddler.

“Now we wait to see how this one acts.” Florence pointed absentmindedly to the squirming newborn a few feet away. “She’s already crying more at night than Clementine did.”

“Hopefully it’ll ease up.” Callum said.

“I know.” Florence frowned.

“Do you have any plans for today?”

“I was going to call up Daniel to see if he wants to grab lunch. I have to go out to grab a few things anyway and I feel like I haven’t talked to him in ages.”

Callum’s nervous shifting went unnoticed by Florence as she kept eating like nothing was wrong.

“What about you?” she glanced up at her brother who tried quickly and casually to get himself in check so she wouldn’t suspect anything.

“I have a meeting around lunchtime.” Callum said.

“A meeting?” Florence inquired.

“It’s nothing exciting.” Callum shrugged, getting up from the table to bring their dishes to the sink. “I’ll tell you about it later.”

Florence frowned but nodded before taking her phone out to call Daniel. As the phone rang, she brought Clementine’s plastic dishes to the sink and used a damp cloth to wipe the toddler’s face. After three rings she was sent to voicemail. Frowning, Florence dialled again with the same conclusion but after two rings.

“He won’t answer.” Florence mumbled, sending him a text anyway.

Callum watched her silently as he loaded the dishwasher, keeping his mouth shut as she worriedly sent a text, the cloth in her hand now forgotten about as it hung lazily by two fingers. Clementine held her hands up and Florence slid her phone in her pocket to pick up her eldest daughter, placing her gently on her hip.

“Do you mind watching Penelope if I get Clem dressed?” Florence asked her brother.

“Of course.” Callum nodded.

Mornings with Clementine were Florence’s favourite thing, being able to spend some quiet time with her favourite person in the world, listening to her babbling stories that made no sense but still made her smile. Now that she was older, Clementine was able to help pick out her own clothes, and of course, with Jack being her absolute idol recently, she went right for anything he gave her. Jack made sure to keep her wardrobe fresh and gladly replaced his favourite outfit as she grew. The usual white t-shirt and red and black coloured camouflage pants were pointed to enthusiastically by the eighteenth-month-old, offering a cheeky smile to her mother. White Vans were slid onto Clementine’s feet and her blonde hair was pulled back into pigtails, tied into place with red ribbons.

Florence’s phone buzzed as the toddler was staring at herself in the mirror and she took that moment to open the message from Daniel. Her hopeful smile fell when his response was nothing more than:

Sorry, I’m working today

Clementine’s head poking over the top of her screen made Florence finally look up.

“‘Ack!” Clementine said.

“You wanna see Jack today?” Florence asked.

“Yeah.” Clementine giggled, climbing onto her lap.

“Ok, let’s ask.” Florence didn’t even respond to Daniel before opening her contacts and sending a message to Jack.

An hour later, Callum was gone to his meeting and Florence was waiting at the mall with Penelope and Clementine by her side. Jack had answered right away, saying he and Zach were about to head to the mall anyway and they could meet there for lunch. When the boys arrived and hugs were shared, Jack gladly held Clementine’s hand, the pair walking ahead of the rest of them. Of course, when Jack heard what Clementine wanted to wear, he insisted he wear the matching outfit, the two of them looking like full twins, right down to Jack’s silly red bucket hat to match Clementine’s hair bows.

“Wonder if everyone thinks she’s his.” Zach chuckled from beside Florence as she pushed the stroller.

“Maybe.” Florence scoffed. “Although they’re basically the same height so they probably think siblings.”

“Hey!” Jack turned to frown at her before facing forward again. “You know I’m sensitive about my height.”

The group went to various stores, Florence picking up another box of diapers and wipes, Zach grabbing a new box of pencils and a few notebooks for school, and Jack finding a new skateboard to add to his ever growing collection. Of course, Jack bought Clementine a cherry lollipop, making sure to carry her as she ate it so she wouldn’t choke on it while she walked.

Clementine’s chubby hand pulled the candy from her mouth as she pointed across the bustling hallway with her other, “Dayul!”

Sure enough, Daniel was spotted through the crowd going the opposite direction, Cayleigh on his arm. Clementine’s shrieks caught his attention and once Cayleigh saw them, she just had to say hello. The two groups met in the centre of the crowd, sharing slightly awkward greetings.

“What are you guys doing here?” Zach asked casually.

“Shopping. I needed some new makeup and then we’re going for lunch. Dani’s taking me to a nice restaurant.” Cayleigh beamed, cuddling up close to him.

Daniel simply smiled tightly, his eyes shifting to the sleeping baby in the stroller and he shifted awkwardly before looking to the floor.

“I thought you were working.” Florence said plainly.

Before Daniel could answer, Cayleigh cut in with a, “Nope! He’s got most of the week off which is great!”

“Yeah. That’s nice.” Florence smiled as honestly as she could possibly fake.

Clementine offered Daniel a real smile, holding out her slobbery lollipop to him proudly.

“Looks good, Clem.” Daniel said quietly, running a finger over her hand.

“We’ve been walking around for an hour and bit now. I think we should go eat real food, huh?” Jack said, sensing the awkwardness easily. Anyone could.

“Alright. See you, guys!” Cayleigh said loudly, taking Daniel’s hand in hers before leaning close to Clementine in Jack’s arms. “Bye, Clemmy!”

They quickly disappeared into the crowd. Clementine looked to Jack completely expressionless and he just laughed, turning to Florence who didn’t look too thrilled either and Zach who looked like everything was normal.

“Where are we going to eat?” he asked.

Finally settled at a table in the food court with their trays in front of them, they began to eat their lunch. Florence was clearly upset, jabbing her fork into her salad a bit too aggressively.

“What’s with you?” Zach asked.

“He told me he was working today so we couldn’t go out.” Florence scoffed.

Jack raised his eyebrows over the side of his pop can as he took a sip. He was surprised at how easy they got an answer out of her.

“That’s such a Matt thing to do.” Florence tisked, shaking her head.

Zach laughed loudly at that diss.

“No, I’m not kidding. Matt used to do that shi...stuff all the time.” Florence said, eyeing Clementine who was eating her happy meal on her lap. “He would tell me he’s working and then go party and kiss other girls and like...I thought Daniel and I were fine. Apparently not.”

Zach and Jack shyly exchanged glances that went over Florence’s head.

“I don’t get why he has to lie. Just tell me if you don’t want to hang out.” Florence mumbled.

“Maybe he doesn’t want to hurt you.” Jack shrugged.

“Well too late.” Florence sighed. “This has been a whole mess of who’s hurting or not hurting or not wanting to but actually hurting who and it’s so tiring.”

“Yeah. We know.” Jack nodded slowly.

“I miss last summer.” Zach said. “It was so easier.”

“Tell me about it.” Florence agreed. She peeked over the side of the stroller to see the waking baby squirming in her place. “Speak of the devil.”

The sharp cry that followed made Florence visibly cringe as a few people looked their way. She moved Clementine to the empty chair beside her and got to her feet.

“Mind watching her if I go deal with this?” Florence asked the boys.

“Sure.” Zach shrugged. Jack sent her a reassuring smile and Florence pushed the stroller down to the bathroom. There was a room to the side specially for mothers and she locked the door behind her, gently picking up the newborn from the stroller and sat in the armchair. The baby quieted down quickly as she began feeding and Florence watched her silently, the light blue eyes under long lashes against full cheeks and her head of soft, whispy brown hair. She was a gorgeous baby, there was no denying that, but the news from the doctor was still fresh on Florence’s mind.

It was ultimately confusing and Florence found herself continually thinking about it. Sighing with frustration, she let her head fall back against the chair and she took a few calming breaths. She could only hope things would work out; Clementine was arguably raised without a father and she didn’t want the same fate for Penelope either.

The newborn was laid back in the stroller, buckled up safely, and got a kiss pressed to her cheek. Florence took a second to tidy herself up in the mirror. Of course, she couldn’t help but reapply some concealer she had stored in her purse to hide the reappearing dark circles under her eyes. She was so exhausted and consistently anxious. Penelope’s soft cooing still made Florence smile and she peered over the side of the stroller to the baby, her small fists balled up by her face, eyelids heavy as she blinked slowly up at her mother.

“You’re so cute.” Florence whispered, gently tickling the bottom of her tiny clothed feet. The baby’s tongue poked out of her mouth, otherwise still too young to do anything remotely interesting. But even still, it was captivating to the second-time mother, absolutely beaming down at the newborn.

When she was finished admiring her daughter, Florence headed back for the table, finding Clementine on Jack’s lap as Zach was showing him something on his phone, the two laughing together.

“What’s so funny?” Florence asked, parking the stroller beside the table again.

“Look at this picture Jack and I took at Corbyn’s birthday.” Zach passed over his phone to Florence as she sat down.

At first glance, she could see what was so funny, Jack’s half closed eyes and drunk grin paired with the ugly sunglasses that Zach wore over his awkward smile.

“God, that’s a good look on you.” Florence snorted, zooming in on Jack’s expression. The blurry spot of red in the background caught her attention and she scrolled over to it. “That’s me back there!”

Her eyebrows furrowed momentarily as she recognized Daniel’s denim jacket standing with her. Not wanting to make a big deal or create more drama, Florence simply smiled and passed Zach back his phone.

“To be honest, this is a piece of artwork.” Zach said, holding his phone at a distance dramatically as he admired the image at full.

Florence forced a smile, turning back to her unfinished and now warm salad in front of her. She could hazily remember Emilio saying something about how Daniel and she were talking that night but she didn’t take it seriously. Maybe Emilio was telling the truth. Florence was curious as to what they would have talked about in such a state, especially at a point in their relationship that was extremely rough. Regardless, she still missed him, and even if they ‘made up’, she still felt so distanced from the boy who once was her whole world.

#daniel seavey #daniel seavey fanfic #wdw #wdw fanfic #college!wdw #why dont we #limelight #why dont we fanfic #jonah marais #jack avery #corbyn besson #zach herron #writing #anything but mine

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dreadwulf · 6 years ago

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*sigh* Okay, I just had to write this all out to get it off my chest and hopefully get over it and move on.

People tell me I look just like Brienne of Tarth. I’m tall, blonde, broad-shouldered, and homely. I get mistaken for a man, even when I have long hair that goes all down my back, even wearing a dress. I’ve gotten used to it.

My earliest memory of school is lying on the ground while a crowd of boys are kicking and hitting me, because I was an ugly freak. Girls grow earlier than boys do, you see. I was the tallest kid in my elementary, and I was hated for it. I endured constant abuse. When I got a little bit older, and I was almost 6 feet tall when I was 12, the abuse mostly turned away from being physical and into emotional and psychological. Girls followed me into the bathroom, laughing at how my clothes didn’t fit, how awkward I was, how masculine. Boys no longer hit me, just ignored or ridiculed me. Because it was the 80s I heard constant references to the East German olympic team, how I looked like a member. I didn’t understand the references at the time, but I knew it was yet another reference to how I didn’t measure up as a woman. Much later I learned about how those women were dosed with testosterone by the government against their will - a terrible story that the people around me regarded as a joke. There’s nothing funnier than a manish woman, apparently.

When I was young I was undatable, never considered an option to anyone. I never kissed anyone until I was in my twenties, and was a virgin until I was 25. It’s bizarre when I look back now at photos of myself, because I’m expecting a hideous monster, and all I see is an ordinary girl - a little taller, broad-shouldered and plain, not pretty, but ordinary. But it all got into my head, you see. Inside I still feel like a freak. Undesireable. Unloved.

I started watching Game of Thrones from the first episode (mainly because I’m a big fan of Peter Dinklage!), and I was intrigued. Intrigued, but not obsessed, not yet. I’m a grown woman and I don’t have time for that sort of thing. But the first time Brienne of Tarth took off her helmet onscreen and I saw her face, I literally pointed at the screen and said out loud, “that’s me!”

Never in my life have I reacted that way before. Never before, and never since.

Granted, the actress who plays her is a great beauty, but the character of Brienne I latched onto instantly and felt a deep kinship with, especially after reading her story in the books. How as a child she was a girl very much like Sansa, who loved songs and romance and dancing and other girlish things, but the adults around her told her she was too ugly. Her septa told her no one would ever love or want her. She was shamed for wearing dresses and trying to be feminine, was told she was embarassing herself because her body was not womanly enough. She was made to feel like a failure just for existing, for being umarriagable, for causing the end of her house by being so ugly that no one wanted her. But instead of just crumbling and disappearing, Brienne of Tarth took up a sword and decided to make something else of herself. She wanted to help people, she wanted to contribute something to the world, and she decided to find a good lord and serve them as a knight. Brienne is brave and caring and defends the weak and wants to protect the people she loves. Brienne is a hero. She is a hero while not being tiny and delicate and pretty but large, sturdy, and ugly. In that she is completely unique, and completely wonderful.

A lot of old wounds opened up, watching that story and reading A Feast For Crows. Old issues I thought I was over all came back up. I identified powerfully with having your femininity stolen from you because your body is different, with being abused for not being woman enough, and with longing for love in a world that hates you. I remembered being hated, constantly and visciously hated, just for existing. I relived the bone-deep belief that I would spend my entire life alone, because no one would ever want me, a belief that was constantly validated by the actual people around me. I became painfully aware of the sense that I still have to this day of being constantly too big, too loud, too much, that has me slouching and shrinking and taking up less space and whispering timidly and the effect that those things have had on my life and career to this day.

And watching Brienne’s story, I saw how someone can endure the same things I did, and keep trying. Can keep struggling to succeed, and even fall in love. That was the most amazing thing of all, you see. This woman on television who looked like me, she was a love interest! She had her own romantic storyline! I could hardly believe it at first. I watched through my fingers trying to talk myself out of hoping. Because this never happens - an ugly woman, a masculine woman, is never desirable in fiction, never important enough to the story to be a love interest, and never worthy of romance. Yet here it was, it was happening right in front of my eyes.

Her love story with Jaime Lannister was a competely unique thing on television. An ugly woman with a beautiful man. A bond of deep respect and admiration, with undeniable sexual tension. Here were two people who can understand each other because they have both been hated for reasons beyond their control, who sought refuge in honor and knighthood and were loathed for it. Brienne understood how hatred can warp a person, make them someone they never meant to be, just the way she herself had been made to harden and close off to the world. She saw the person that Jaime might have been, if things had gone differently, and the man he could still become. Jaime for his part saw worth in her when everyone around him called her ridiculous, even though she was his enemy. He still knew that she was more deserving than any knight in Westeros, and believed in her when no one else in the world did. He gave her a sword and a quest and even a squire, lost his hand defending her, and he put his own life on the line to save hers.

Jaime openly adored her, looked at her like she was the most wonderful thing in the world, and I have never seen anything like that. A woman who looks like me, being looked at like that. Do you know what that felt like for me? Can you imagine it?

This story meant a lot to me, is what I’m saying. It was healing for me. I believed in that story, and I expected that even if there wouldn’t be a happy ending, at least there would be that respect for the character, and that she would be taken seriously by the narrative and her story would be completed in some fashion.

And then they aired Season 8.

In season 8 we learn that not only did the show never bother to adapt her storylines from the books, where she is slated to face Lady Stoneheart and the Brotherhood Without Banners, they gave her no story in replacement. She has no material impact on the storyline of the show, she simply doesn’t matter in any way. The only major storyline they kept from the books was her romance with Jaime Lannister, and in Season 8 they destroy that story in the cruelest possible way.

After emphasizing that Brienne is an adult virgin, they give her one scene with what we thought was her love interest, where they share one kiss. One. Onscreen within seconds of Brienne being naked Jaime looks dissatisfied and unhappy, and in the same episode, leaves her to go back to his traditionally beautiful ex. Leaves her crying and pleading with him to stay. And then her story ends, except for a brief bookend where she writes an entry in the White Book showing she still loved him, even though he abandoned and betrayed her in the worst way possible.

Right now I’d really like to know if anyone involved with this show ever gave a moment’s thought to what it would be like to watch that happen. After years of patiently waiting to get the love story we were promised for five seasons, instead, to humiliate and punish Brienne for daring to think she deserved love. Did anyone ever consider what that would feel like for women like me? If they did think about it, I hope they enjoyed the hurt they caused me, because the way this story played out felt outright malicious and hateful. They could have given me one tender moment, one declaration of love or affection, just to know what it would look like to see that onscreen for a woman like me. Instead they deliberately withheld that. And then went out of their way to invalidate absolutely everything about the storyline we had been watching, as if it had never happened, as if we had imagined it all, and been foolish to believe in it in the first place.

Yes, I know, it’s only a story, but stories matter. We wouldn’t put nearly the effort and investment into them that we do as a culture if they didn’t. My story has never mattered before, and it meant something to me over the last 8 years that someone was telling it. So was this ending intended as a deliberate slap in my face, or was that collateral damage that the show simply did not care about?

The messages sent by our media are sometimes unintentional, but they are usually given at least some consideration. So I wonder what sort of message was trying to be sent by giving the gender non-comforming woman who dared to open her heart an immediate rejection, and have her then swear to serve a celibate organization for the rest of her life? Giving up her inheritance, her island, her own sworn vows to Sansa, and everything else she cared about? Am I meant to regard this as a happy ending, I wonder? Her feelings and dreams don’t matter, but hey, she has a position in the small council, so Girl Power! Was there a single woman anywhere involved in this production who might have pointed out how awful this is?

I understand that what’s done is done and there’s no fixing this, and complaining about it is pointless. But what I really want, what I wish for, is for somebody to confirm that at least at some point this was a love story, and that for whatever reason, network interference or showrunner decision or whatever it was, it was changed at the last minute. Just tell me that at some point the intent was real. To know that would be helpful. Because right now I feel like a stupid chump for ever believing that anybody wanted a woman like me to have a love story, and you cannot imagine how much that hurts.

#braime #brienne of tarth #jaime x brienne

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coolpunkparadise · 6 years ago

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Art Tips!

Hey, so recently I’ve been getting a lot more into art and I’ve found some tricks to help other artists improve! I’m still new, so it might not be the best, but I figured it might help someone. I’m gonna separate these by types of art so that its easier to read. Hopefully this is helpful!

Section 1: Supplies

Supplies are a great way for physical artists to improve art. Good art suplies feel better to use, and also look a lot better to use! However, it can be hard to afford some supplies. If you’re in this boat,

too bad for you, lol.

Section 2: Art Programs

Art programs are also very important, so here’s some good options for beginners.

Cheap:

-MS paint -MS paint -MS paint -MS paint -MS paint -MS paint -MS paint -MS paint -MS paint -MS paint -MS paint -MS paint -MS paint -MS paint -MS paint -MS paint -MS paint -MS paint -MS paint -MS paint

Thats all you need.

Section 3: Inspiration

Inspiration is a useless thing, but of course, you must need it. You must crave it. You see no point in mindless creation for the self, in creation for the sake of creation, but all things must have a purpose, a point, a use. You feel, as an artist, you have no use on your own, so you must create for others, but is this life? Is this a job you love?

You want to be successful, but you can never draw. You know you have to practice, but you never draw. You stare at the blank canvas, white and glowing, and find it hard to breathe, the infinite possible variants of color and shape unfolding in your head. You see all art and art-adjacent things, all lines, all shapes. Some are beautiful, wonderful and colorful and expressive and real, taking you in and not letting your mind go until you find some way to appreciate it.

Others are creative, weaving imaginary worlds full of life and objects we on earth can never understand. You desperately want to get lost in them, to hear what they sound like, to feel the strange terrain, to taste the food, to smell the market on a good morning, and you know you never will. You are stuck with only the what-if, the bewilderment created by these images only you could see, only you could create.

Still others are simply madness, colors splashed randomly in infinite assortments, pointless. These anger you. These are meaningless. Meaningless. It cannot be meaningless. You try to fly past these in your thoughts, but they stick to your mind like burrs to a dog, and when you try to face them again you only get angrier and more focused on what you hate. You want to end this madness, these pointless colors, but they won’t leave until you’re done with all combinations, so you must let them stick in the back of your head.

You keep gazing at the possibilities, taking an eternity to admire each (aside from the madness), appreciating every minute detail. You don’t think there can be a greatest one, until you see it. The best piece.

You see a woman. She is beautiful, at least, to you. She is faced to the left, with only half of her face visible. Her skin is soft, and you can see a slight blush on her face. She has a cunning smile, and she is looking off somewhere out of frame. She has a red dress on, and a golden crown sits on top her head. She stands in a wooded area, the sky a dark blue. There are stars out, illuminating a river in front of her.

You are awestruck. You stare at the piece for hours, and start to notice little things. Flowers of dark colors are growing in the grass, and if you look carefully at the trees you see they aren’t empty, but there are creatures, small and alive. You notice patterns in the linework, too subtle for most to see. The woman’s blush has several small flowery shapes hidden inside, and you also notice a subtle shape of a handprint on the side of her face. No one else would see this, you tell yourself. No one else would know to look. Only you could appreciate this.

You can see the individual hairs on her head, the fiber of her dress. When you focus, you can see the flowers on the rest of her skin, spreading all around her. After enough of this, you see them even when you aren’t focusing, they are a part of her now, as much as the picture is a part of you.

You find the creatures in the woods are not animals. No, they are not anything of this earth. One of them is a small, curious thing with a triangle head. It has fleshy blobs covering what you can see, and it appears to have something in its spider-like “hands”, but you can’t tell what.

You look back to the woman, and her head has moved. She’s turned to you slightly, her eyes turning to face you. Her cunning smile is now a more sincere, wholehearted smile. You can’t see the flowers in her skin at first, but when you look back, you see they have been replaced with twisting lines that seem to weave around and over eachother, creating intricate designs far too varied and detailed to MOST people to appreciate, but of course, not you. You can see them all. You can keep them all. You notice, again, a subtle handprint, and find it brings a smile. Of course you would notice that.

You look at her again, and see the lines. You smile, reflecting hers, and you see her chuckle slightly, knowing that only you two can know the secret of her skin. She gestures for you too look around, and you notice something new on the ground. A letter, opened and on its side. You get at an angle where you can read it, and it briefly fills your canvas.

You belong here, it says. You belong here. Look at the flowers, my dearest. Look at what you’ve made, what only you could appreciate.

You look, and find the flowers are now filled with images of a great war, the story of the ups and downs weaving between the petals. You watch with delight as the winning side fluctuates and characters fall in love and become friends, and, of course, die in war. You smile when one side finally wins, and the city is burned, because you were always rooting for that team. You see a mother ripped from her child, but, of course, the mother deserved it. She was on the villain’s side, remember? This is justice.

“Darling,” The woman whispers, her voice soft and caring, “Your work is most impressive.”

You look up at her and smile sheepishly. “Thank you, dear,” You say. You realize now that you can talk to her, something you never thought possible, and your heart soars. You think of all the things you can ask, all the things you can talk about, all the things she can tell you. You decide to start simple, though.

“What is your name?” You ask.

She laughs, and you find yourself entranced. “That’s up to you,” She says, “But I’ve always liked Stella.”

“Stella it is, then,” You say.

She smiles at you and reaches for your hand. “Walk with me,” she says. “I want to show you something.”

You take her hand, and its as soft as it looked. You can feel the patterns on her skin, weaving and winding around. She leads you through the woods, and you find that the roadblocks like roots and overturned trees move to avoid you. Of course they do. Of course they respect you, the creator, the only one who could see this beauty truly.

You find yourself by a much larger lake now, and she brings you to the side of it and sits with you. You look over the water, and you see shapes inside that, zig-zags moving across the water. You see the grass is full of words and stories. You look up to the stars, and see constellations, perfect to connect for you, the mind who could come up with this.

You turn your face to Stella, and she puts a hand on your face gently.

“You’re blushing, darling,” She says. You look away quickly, but she moves to see you again.

“It’s okay,” She says. “You aren’t the first one to be nervous.”

You find the words calm at first, and then you realize- not the first. Not the first.

“There have been others?” You ask.

“Yes,” She admits. “Truthfully, this is not your creation, but I didn’t want to tell you that at first. I feared you would leave.”

You’re silent, letting your anger burn within you, but a question comes to your mind.

“Where are they?” You ask.

“Don’t worry about that,” Stella answers. “It’s just us right now, okay?”

She puts a hand on your face again, and you start to calm down.

“Okay,” You say.

“Good,” She says. You feel her hand move slightly, and you take a breath. You notice how tired you feel, and think of how nice it would be to sleep. You rest your eyes for a second, and you feel Stella rub your face.

“You can rest,” she says. “I’ll wake you in the morning.”

While you appreciate the kind words, you’re tired enough that it wouldn’t matter. You fall asleep, and when you do, you dream of the most wonderful things. You dream of shapes and patterns, small at first, but eventually growing across your mind. At first, you see some people in the distance, noisy and out of place and annoying, but they’re overtaken by the patterns. You look around and see how beautiful it is, but one thing is wrong.

You. You are not the pattern. But you feel it, then, the patterns washing over you, and you see it overtake your body, turning it into nothing. You breathe a sigh of relief, happy that you’re now perfect, happy you can see the intricacies, and you realize that this is inspiration. This is what you needed. This is how to make true art.

You can’t wait to wake up and create it.

#long post #art #art tips #shitpost #horror #i guess

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singledarkshade · 7 years ago

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Anger Leads To Hate

A small magical accident affects Gideon, still grieving the loss of Rip, in more ways than one.

Companion story to In The Dark.

These can be read in either order as they don't intersect at all.

Part Two of 'The Dark' series.

“This is not my fault.”

“Whose fault is it?”

“How was I to know the spell would do this?”

“I don’t know, maybe researching it properly would have helped.”

“Who is she?”

“I think...I think that’s Gideon.”

“She’s right. How do you know that?”

“I told you she uploaded me and that was exactly how she looked. How do you know?”

“I saw her in Rip’s mind.”

Something was wrong.

Everything felt small, compact.

She was trapped.

She finally managed to find the command in order to get a visual and realised instantly what was wrong.

She was wrong.

She was human – trapped in a prison of flesh, blood and bone.

The scream that came from her was primal, filled with a horror she never knew she could experience and it echoed around the room.

“Gideon,” a woman called to her, “Gideon, calm down. You’re safe. I promise you’re safe.”

Shaking Gideon breathed, “Captain?”

“I’m here, Gideon. You’re safe,” the woman soothed softly.

Gideon shook her head, “No, Captain...Captain...”

“I don’t think it’s you she wants, Sara,” a man said before he rested his hand on what she worked out was her arm, “Gideon, it’s me Ray. I know you’re probably scared right now but it’s going to be alright.”

“Captain?” she called again.

Ray shook his head sadly, “I’m sorry, Gideon but Rip is gone. Do you remember?” “No,” Gideon whispered looking up at the man, “He can’t be.”

Gently he slid his arms beneath her, “We need to get you to the medical bay to make sure you’re alright.”

Allowing Ray to help her up Gideon looked around seeing the others standing watching them. She knew who they were but right now that information couldn’t be accessed.

“Come on,” Ray said starting her forward, keeping her upright as her legs (she had legs?) shook.

Ray walked the human version of Gideon to the medical bay worried by how confused she appeared to be but then again she had just gone through a complete transformation. Changing from an AI controlling a timeship to a human had to be extremely traumatic.

He knew it was probably worse because she was still grieving for Rip.

It wasn’t noticeable unless you were paying attention but Gideon hadn’t been the same since Rip has sacrificed himself to protect them. She seemed less chirpy in her replies, there was a slight delay in her response to certain requests and jellybeans were no longer able to be fabricated.

“Here,” he helped Gideon onto the seat before placing the cuff around her wrist, “Just rest, okay.”

Gideon nodded. Her expression remained as blank as it had been since she left the bridge.

“Okay,” Ray mused to himself as he looked at the screen, frowning as it didn’t seem to be coming on, “Give me a minute to get this working.”

“It works like this,” she said with a slight wave of her free hand.

Ray jumped as the scans started suddenly realising that Gideon may have been human but she clearly was still in control of the ship.

Waiting for the scans to be completed Ray studied the woman who had come into being suddenly as she stared into space. He could see the tears in her eyes and wanted to give her a hug but, despite the fact she’d allowed him to help her here, Ray was sure that she would shy away from any kind of physical comfort he would offer. There was only one person she wanted right now.

As the system scanned Gideon Zari appeared in the doorway.

“How is she?”

Ray shrugged, “I’m betting more than a little traumatised right now. Suddenly human and Rip isn’t here to help her through it.”

“Were they that close?” Zari asked.

“They were together for about fifteen years,” Ray replied, “He’s the one person she knows best. They had a close relationship. He always treated her like she was already human.”

“Well Sara is getting Constantine to check what happened,” Zari told him, “And calling the Bureau.”

Ray frowned, glancing back to where Gideon was still ignoring them, “Why?”

“Because as far as we know nothing like this has happened before,” Zari replied, “This is kind of big so she wants their input.”

It made sense but Ray wasn’t sure Gideon would see it that way.

The beep confirming the end of the scans pulled his attention back to Gideon. Ray moved back to her side with Zari following him.

“You are completely healthy,” Ray told her with what he hoped was a comforting smile.

“Why do I feel so heavy?” she asked, “Why do my eyes feel hot and I can’t keep them open?”

“Because you’re tired,” Zari explained, “You need to get some sleep.”

Gideon looked a little confused as though she was trying to understand the concept. Zari took her hand and smiled comfortingly.

“Close your eyes,” Zari said gently, resting her other hand on Gideon’s hair and stroking soothingly, “Just relax and take deep breaths.”

Ray watched as Zari soothed the former AI until she fell asleep.

“You can’t do that,” Ray argued, arms crossed as he stared at Ava who had arrived a few minutes before.

“Ray,” Sara said softly, “I know you want to protect Gideon, so do I but that was some seriously dark magic that made her human. We have to be sure she’s...”

“What?” Ray demanded when Sara trailed off.

Looking uncomfortable Sara grimaced, “Ray, she was an AI and is now human. It’s never happened before and considering how it happened it needs to be studied.”

“She,” Ray snapped, “Gideon isn’t an ‘it’, Sara. Even as an AI she was never it.”

Sara took a deep breath, “Ray, considering everything that has happened we just need to make sure there is nothing that’s going to bite us in the ass. Again.”

Ray let out an annoyed sigh, “Rip would never have allowed this.” “Rip isn’t here,” Sara reminded him, “This is my call and I’ve made it. Gideon will be escorted back to the Bureau by Ava and her people. We’ll follow and stay until all tests are finished.”

Shaking his head Ray walked out the room wishing he could slam the door.

*********************************************

Gideon stood at the window staring out across the city. She had been confused and scared when the Time Bureau agents had pulled her off her ship with Sara Lance telling her it was going to be alright.

“Gideon?”

Without turning Gideon stated, “I do not want company, Miss Lance.”

“I know this is unsettling, Gideon,” Sara said, “But I’m the Captain and I’m responsible for the crew.”

Gideon turned on her, “You are not my Captain. My Captain is gone because of you, because of the people you have allowed to imprison me. Just as you allowed them to imprison him.”

Sara stepped back at the anger in Gideon’s voice, “Rip made his own choices.” “Do you truly believe that?” Gideon demanded, “You allowed Bennett to take over the Time Bureau cosying up to him by throwing away the man who had done nothing but protect you.”

“Gideon, I know how close you and Rip were but you have to admit a lot of the things he did were questionable,” Sara tried to placate her, “Look what he did to Ava.”

“Ah yes,” Gideon retorted, “And did either of you actually allow him to explain? No, you did not because you wanted to be in the right,” she turned her back again, “Leave, Miss Lance I do not want company. Especially yours.”

Turning away again she waited for the woman to leave. Once she was alone Gideon lay down on the bed shoved in the corner of the small room (cell) she had been placed in curling around the pillow.

“Why did you leave me, Captain?” she whispered sadly.

This transformation from AI to human had been terrifying, she had been pulled from her ship in more ways than one and the wave of human emotions that hit her was overwhelming. She needed Rip. All their years together he would be able to help her understand what this was, he would be able to make her feel better, he would hug her tightly until she was ready to face the world but he wasn’t here.

He had been taken from her.

Because the people who were holding her prisoner would not listen or help stop a creature they had spent a long time denying existed.

A burning heat filled her, she had the urge to throw something and realised this was what real anger felt like. It was not the replica frustration or annoyance she felt as an AI. It flowed through her and Gideon sat up.

Rip Hunter, her Captain, had done everything he could to protect the timeline, to protect both the Legends and the Bureau but neither would listen to him. He had spent most of his life learning how to do so, he had lost everything for that purpose and both had thrown him to one side as though he meant nothing.

The Legends and the Bureau....

Both acted as though they were perfect, that they had the right to continue without his guidance.

Standing again and moving to the window to look out across the city Gideon knew why she was human now.

She had been made human to destroy them.

“Our team are looking at the information you gave us,” Ava said when Sara returned from visiting Gideon, “They’ll start their tests in the morning.”

Sara frowned, “I don’t think she’ll be very co-operative unfortunately.”

“I know,” Ava sighed, “But once she understands that it’s necessary before we can let her go then hopefully she’ll start working with us. How are the rest of the Legends doing with this?”

“Well, the ship doesn’t seem to be operational right now,” Sara replied, “Once it got us here everything shut down. Ray and Zari are looking at it. They think it’s because Gideon is no longer there.”

“We can look into replacing the AI,” Ava promised her.

Sara sighed, “Thanks. So, how about dinner?”

Shutting down her computer Ava nodded, “That sounds great.” Walking out together through the Bureau they ran into Ray and Zari who were hurrying towards them.

“What’s wrong?” Ray demanded worry in his eyes.

Confused Sara shrugged, “Nothing. We’re going for dinner.”

“But you called us,” Zari replied, “You said it was urgent.”

Turning to Ava, who looked as confused as she was, Sara jumped when everything around them suddenly shut down.

“Report,” Ava snapped to the room in general.

“All power has gone down,” a voice called.

“What about the back-up generator?”

Silence followed for a few moments before someone answered, “It’s down too.”

Before anyone else could speak all computer screens suddenly lit up and Gideon appeared on them.

“Gideon?” Sara gasped.

“This organisation is no longer required,” Gideon stated, her voice cold, “I am giving one warning. Disband and I will leave you alone but continue to interfere with the timeline and I will destroy you.”

“Gideon, what are you doing?” Sara demanded.

“To those who call themselves Legends,” Gideon continued, “Your days of pretending you are making things better by breaking them are over. You will no longer be permitted to travel through time.”

“The Waverider,” Ray cried, turning he began to run with Sara and Zari at his back.

Reaching the hanger where the ship had been berthed they reached it just in time to see it disappear.

Sara stared at the empty space for several moments turning when she heard Constantine call her.

He skidded to a halt in front of them, “We have a problem with Gideon.”

“We guessed that.”

Part Two

#fic #Legends Of Tomorrow #Gideon

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totallyrhettro · 8 years ago

Text

The Lone Jedi, Chapter 23 (final)

Word Count: 2744 Rating: This chapter: G. Overall story: explicit Warnings: none Summary: Jedi Knight Rhett McLaughlin managed to escape the purge of the Emperor to become one of the last of his celibate order. After years of a solitary life, he finds himself with a former slave for a friend. Despite his efforts to maintain anonymity and the jedi code, he starts to realize that doing either is easier said than done. Notes: Star Wars AU; Events take place between episodes III and IV

First Chapter

Previous Chapter

*See the end of each chapter for additional notes on star wars terms*

Link POV

It was late when Link returned to the house. He was surprised to see the lights in the small hut weren’t on yet, but it didn’t concern him right away. Even as he stepped inside, looking around the rounded wooden structure, and saw that it was empty of life, he didn’t fret. The main room, consisting of the kitchen, a dining area and a living room, didn’t look disturbed. All was neat and tidy, without a trace of any struggle or turmoil. Setting down the large bag of fruits and vegetables that he had purchased earlier onto the stone kitchen counter, he walked out through the back door. It was a short stroll through the long grass to the edge of the nearby beach. There, on the shore, sitting on a long-ago toppled tree with a fishing pole in hand, was his friend. His love.

“You’re going to get sunburned,” he noted, stepped up behind the tall figure. Rhett didn’t turn, but sighed quietly.

“Not one bite,” he complained, ignoring the warning. “On a planet renowned for its ocean life, I haven’t gotten a single bite.” Link chuckled, sitting down next to Rhett, and shook his head.

“Didn’t you tell me this planet has some of the most dangerous ocean life in the galaxy?” Link asked. “Why would you want to catch any of it?”

“So I can eat it,” Rhett answered simply. There was a bright smile in his eyes as he tried to keep a straight face. Link gave a low chuckle.

“How about you make that cassarole you were talking about earlier. What’s it called?”

“Tiingilar. It’s Mandalorian.” Reeling in his empty hook, setting aside the rod, he leaned against Link and put his arm around him. “I think you’ll like it.” Ducking down, he nuzzled against Link’s neck.

“Something tells me you aren’t exactly hungry just yet.” Not that Link would be unhappy about that fact. They had lived here for several months now and he had never been so content. This seaside abode was a far cry from the towering ruins of the academy. The massive complex was long gone, replaced by luscious grasslands on a tiny island in the middle of a giant ocean. Stone and bricks walls replaced by those of wood, straw-filled mattresses by a real bed with cotton sheets and fluffy pillows. It was still a simple life, but a cozy one, and one that Link was thrilled to be a part of.

“Oh, I am,” Rhett admitted. “I’m just having a little bit of an appetizer.” Link pushed him away in a huff.

“I am not an appetizer,” he asserted, looking hurt. Rhett’s smile was gone instantly, replaced by worry and confusion. Then Link smirked. “I’m dessert.” There was a split second were Link saw the light go on in Rhett’s mind before he got to his feet and out of the taller man’s grasp. “Come on,” he said, walking back to the house. “I’m starving.” As he started making his way back home, he walked with a slightly exaggerated swagger, swinging his hips. He knew it made Rhett crazy, and he loved to make that man crazy.

He didn’t make it far. After just a few steps, Rhett was right behind him, his presence like a gathering storm. Link stopped by a large tree near some giant boulders, turning around just as Rhett caught up with him. He leaned against the trunk, casually. This was one animal he was always pleased to have pursuing him.

“Yes, Rhett?” he asked, teasingly. Rhett stepped closer until they were toe to toe, placing his arm against the tree just above Link’s head.

“You’re a tease, you know that?” There was a soft growl in his voice, his eyes looked deep into Link’s, half lidded and dark. Link felt his heart begin to flutter, thoughts of past nights of them together racing through his mind. His love for this man never faded, his desire as fresh as the first time he felt it. Rhett was intoxicating and Link adored him.

“Oh?” he inquired. “I was just walking…”

“You know what your walk does to me,” Rhett accused. Link tried to hide his smile, but it was no use. “I’m not sure I can wait for dessert.” His green eyes gazed over Link’s loose-fitting shirt and matching pants. Even dressed in these clothes Link felt completely naked under Rhett’s scrutiny.

“I think you might be letting your emotions take control of you,” Link teased, raising a single eyebrow. For a moment he thought he had gone too far, Rhett’s expression faltering into a solemn frown.

“Perhaps.” Bending down, the former jedi kissed Link, his lips both gentle and full of passion, his hands holding the other man tightly. He held him there for a blissful eternity before finally taking a breath. It took a moment before Link’s world stopped spinning. “Or maybe I’m controlling them.” Link glanced around, seeing three huge boulders and a multitude of smaller rocks just casually hovering around them. Rhett’s head didn’t turn, his eyes still boring into Link’s soul. The shorter man couldn’t help but feel a rush of something surge through his body; a tiny bit of fear mixed with a great deal of excitement.

“You’ve got to teach me how to do that,” he whispered, unable to hide the lust in his voice. Rhett grinned and kissed him again, this time soft and chaste. The rocks and boulders fell gently to the grass.

“Let’s eat first,” he suggested. “I really am hungry.” Link gave him a playful shove.

“Alright, alright,” he laughed. “I’d hate to keep you from your fancy bean dish.” Taking Rhett’s hand in his own, Link led the way back to their little abode, a smile plastered on his face.

“I do like beans,” Rhett pointed out with an exaggerated nod.

“I remember.” There had been at least ten different kinds of beans growing in the gardens back at the academy ruins. With Link’s help, Rhett had started a new garden when they moved here, but the plants had yet to sprout anything edible. “Hopefully we’ll be able to grow some here and you’ll never go without.”

“Truly, this will be paradise,” Rhett noted, mockingly. Link gave him another shove for that one.

After they had left Svivren, the small rebel base there, and found this secluded spot, Rhett continued his daily meditations. He didn’t really consider himself a jedi knight any longer, but that didn’t matter. He still believed that the practice was important; it helped him feel at peace, and more attuned with the Force. Once he managed to craft a new bokken and a new target dummy, he resumed his martial training as well. He enjoyed keeping up with his workouts, both physical and mental. After very little coaxing, Link joined him for the combat portion of his routine. Pretty soon he was quite adept at hand-to-hand fighting. Never again would he fear being taken against his will, and he grew stronger every day.

That evening, once their food was digested and the sun started to get low, Link joined his friend by the water’s edge. He didn’t usually participate in the meditations, getting quickly bored with the whole process, but today he wanted to try. Today he was ready to listen.

“Now, don’t get discouraged if nothing happens,” Rhett told him, sitting down cross-legged on the blanket he had laid out for them. “Communing with the Force isn’t about moving rocks around with your mind, it’s about finding inner peace.”

“How long did it take you to learn how to move rocks?” Link wondered.

“Uh, well…” Rhett flicked the hairs on the back of his neck nervously. “Let’s not focus on that right now…”

“How long does it normally take?”

“Well… Look. Not everyone is force-sensitive, Link,” Rhett explained. “It’s actually very unlikely that you’re ever going to be able to move rocks like that.” Link slumped across from him, disappointed. “It’s not impossible,” Rhett added, trying to cheer him up. “I just don’t want you to get your hopes up for nothing.”

“I understand.” Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath just as he had seen Rhett do a hundred times. ‘How hard could it be?’

After a few minutes of breathing exercises, Link felt himself become very relaxed. The soothing sound of waves gently washing upon the sandy shore was incredibly calming, and just having Rhett nearby always left his mind more at peace then when he was alone.

“Clear your mind,” Rhett instructed. “Feel the Force, its energy flowing through you. Let go of your conscious self. Stretch out with your feelings.” Link tried to empty his thoughts of everything but Rhett’s voice, but instead of feeling calm he felt restless. Despite his efforts to stay focused, he could hear everything all around him at once. The wind, the waves- it all rushed in at him. After a moment his eyes flung open and he panted, overwhelmed and out of breath. Rhett was very understanding.

“It’s alright, Link,” he told him. “Meditating can be its own reward. I think you’ll find it to be quite satisfying, even if you aren’t Force-sensitive.” Link shrugged. Maybe it was naive to think he could be a jedi just like Rhett.

“It isn’t very relaxing,” he countered. “What do you say we just watch the sunset for a while?” Not waiting for an answer, Link flopped onto his back with his hands behind his head. Rhett followed suit with a gentle smile. “This is my kind of meditation.”

“Good idea,” Rhett agreed as he laid down beside Link. “Maybe we can try again tomorrow?”

“Maybe.”

Over the next few weeks, Link meditated with Rhett every evening, but he couldn’t seem to move so much as a grain of sand.,though he didn’t tell his friend he was even still trying. Eventually he gave up completely, just using the time to clear his mind of stress and worry. Any day now the rebels were going to make a move on the nearby Imperial base. That was one of the reasons Rhett and Link had moved to this planet after the Hutt’s mining facility on Andasala was put out of business. Lovely and serene though it might be, it would probably just be temporary. Link tried not to think about that, or what dangerous the future might hold. Now that he was out of hiding, Rhett was determined to help the rebel alliance defeat the Empire as best he could, without revealing his jedi past. As far as they, or anyone else knew, he was just a soldier looking to help out in the fight.

“Chances are we won’t have to leave,” Rhett assured his companion. “Though we might have to stay off world awhile in order to keep the imperial troops from finding us.”

“I really like it here,” Link sighed. It had been his home for some time now, and he was just starting to feel like his life was almost perfect.

“Me, too. Believe me, I don’t want to move anywhere either, but I want you to be prepared to leave and find a new home if we have to.” Link knew Rhett only meant to keep them both safe, to keep Link ready for what might happen in the future, but sometimes it made him worry. Meditating helped immeasurably, clearing his mind of unease and negative thoughts. It definitely seemed to help Rhett as he never appeared concerned about anything.

“Are you really not worried at all?” Link asked one night, as they settled into their shared bed.

“Sometimes. I’m just like any other man-”

“-who can lift giant rocks in the air,” Link added.

“Still, I do worry sometimes, but I’ve been meditating for nearly my whole life. Jedi are trained to control their emotions, including anxiety.” Rolling onto his side, Rhett looked at his friend and lover, the starlight that shone through the window sparkled in his emerald eyes. “Besides, no matter what happens, I’ll have you to protect me.”

“I am getting pretty good with a bokken.” Rhett hummed in agreement, pulling Link in close and settling in to sleep. “Maybe someday you can teach me how to use a real sword, or your lightsaber.”

“I think you’d would do better with a blaster, but if you want to learn, we can buy you a metal blade to train with.” Link’s face lit up at the thought. Chances were good that he’d never be able to be a full jedi, like Rhett, but maybe he could live like one. Once Rhett was able to tell him the truth about his past, there seemed to be no end to his tales about the jedi. The legends and passing rumors Link had heard over the years didn’t seem to do the great knights justice and he quickly grew enamored with notion of becoming one himself.

“I almost wish we had grown up together,” he mused, snuggling closer. “Then we might have been jedi together.” Rhett gave an amused nod.

“But we couldn’t have been anything more than friends,” he reminded Link. “Or I probably would have been thrown out of the order as soon as I hit puberty.”

“Still, it would have been wonderful to have those years with you.” Rhett kissed his nose as he wrapped his arms around him.

“We have many years yet to go, and I intend to spend every single one of them with you.” Link sighed contently, holding Rhett’s arms against his chest.

“I love you,” he whispered. ‘With all of my heart.’

“I love you, too.” For a few minutes they were silent, but while it was more than enough time for Link to drift off into dreamland, he had one last question to ask.

“Do you think I could have been a jedi? If I had grown up in the order?” Rhett didn’t open his eyes, but gave Link a cozy hug.

“You would have made a great jedi.”

A few days later Rhett and Link were sitting by the ocean meditating, as they did every morning now, when Link opened his eyes. He couldn’t seem to concentrate today, unable to stop thinking about the impending rebel strike on the nearby Imperial base. In just a few hours it would begin, and the two of them would be right in the thick of it. He wasn’t worried about their victory; along with the rebel fighters, both he and Rhett had been making attacks on various targets for some time now. The rebellion was slowly growing in strength and size. It wouldn’t be too long before they landed a great blow against the mighty Empire. No, it was the usual worry that something would happen to Rhett. Link wouldn’t have been able to bear it if his love got so much as a scratch during their raids. He couldn’t help but worry.

“Everything will be fine,” Rhett told him, not opening his eyes. “We must trust in the Force, trust that the light is on our side.”

“I know,” Link sighed. “I just…”

“I understand how you feel,” the former jedi began. “This is why we meditate. So we can clear our minds of these thoughts. Close your eyes.” Link nodded and did just that. “Focus on your breath. See the world around you through the force, not with your eyes. Feel the light flow through you. Embrace it. Make it part of you.”

Taking a deep, cleansing breath, Link tried to reach his calming space. He had been practicing these meditative techniques for some time now and he was getting very good at it. Eyes still closed, he reached out with his thoughts, sensing the environment around him. The waves crashed nearby, rolling waters serene and powerful. The wind blew through his hair, gentle and warm, caressing his skin and winding through the long grass. Small animals scurried nearby; Link could feel their life force as well as he could hear them. Reaching out to the small rocks near him, he examined them through and through, fascinated by their texture. Concentrating on them, he could almost feel their rough surface with his fingers, though he had not moved from his spot. He concentrated a little more…

“Link.” Rhett’s voice was a whisper. He was obviously trying to remain calm, but there was astonishment in his voice. “Link… Open your eyes.”

The End

Additional Notes-

None required.

More Fics

#rhett #link #rhink #fanfic #star wars #starwars #the lone jedi

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loopy-atla-fanfic · 8 years ago

Text

Samsara - Chapter 6

Rating: T

Characters: Mai, Zuko, Ty Lee, Azula, Iroh

Story Warnings: Ableism, Suicidal Thoughts

Written for Maiko Week 2017

EPOCH 6

"Come on, Mai. It's time to embrace the day."

Embrace the day, huh? That sounded like as good a start to General Iroh's surrender as any. After all, fighting off Ty Lee's bizarre enthusiasm for life was one of the longest struggles of Mai's existence, and at best that war had reached a stalemate, so why not surrender and reallocate the national war budget towards infrastructure projects?

Ugh, hopefully this wouldn't be as boring as that metaphor.

But then, that was her choice, wasn't it?

When Mai felt the first bounce at the foot of her bed, she opened her eyes, sat up, got to her feet, and proceeded to make a launching motion with her legs that took advantage of the compression capabilities of the mattress to add extra force to her upward propulsion with the expectation that when the downward acceleration of gravity returned her to her starting position, the mattress's compression factor would be able to translate most of her momentum back into another upward motion.

In other words, Mai bounced.

She did it exactly in time with Ty Lee, so that they were able to hold each other's gaze as they went up and down.

Ty Lee seemed to have forgotten how her face worked for a while, staring blankly as her loose hair went up and down around her, but eventually she broke out into a grin. "Wow, someone's perky this morning. Did you have a good time with Zuko?"

Mai considered the question for the first time in an eon as she lazily executed a backflip. "I got to spend time with Zuko, even if he was upset. Spending time with him is a never a bad thing."

Ty Lee nodded. "That's the kind of thinking that might make marriage bearable." She put a little more oomph into the next bounce. Mai did the same-

-and then they both smacked their heads into the ceiling with simultaneous clunks.

Mai managed to hiss twenty-seven different swear words before she crashed down on the mattress, while Ty Lee limited herself to an, "Owie." But as soon as the blinding pain in her skull cleared, Mai actually felt like laughing. Instead of suppressing it, she surrendered to it.

That was definitely more fun than trying to kill Katara, even with the possible concussion. Especially with the possible concussion.

Ty Lee was laughing, too.

Forty-six minutes later, Ty Lee was still giggling about it, but Mai put on her 'I am very serious about this so don't execute me for treasonous levels of laziness' face. They walked into the throne room and found Azula posing in her armor beside the tactical map on its fancy carved stand that looked like a dragon barfing up an attempt to swallow a gerbil-jay.

Mai bowed low. "Good morning, Azula. You're looking very regal today." It was the most natural thing she could think to say.

The princess eyed her, perhaps wary of flattery as a cover for treason, or suspicious that someone Mai paying someone a compliment was some kind of a signal for the end of the world. Azula might have even been considering the worst case scenario of all- that Mai was making her into the target of a joke.

Whatever Azula thought, she must have decided that even a joke posed no (immediate) physical danger. "I'm pleased that you noticed. Now, you and Ty Lee will take command of 'Operation: Springback' here in the Capital Temple. You will be my coiled spring, hiding within the temple, and attack only when rebel forces enter the grounds in significant number. The Earth King's original plan called out our temple as a possible fallback point, but if they try, they will once again find that I have cut off their every chance to survive. Are you clear on your mission?"

Mai nodded. "I am. You've done an excellent job communicating the intent and making sure that we've been reminded of the details."

Beside her, Ty Lee bounced on the balls of her feet. "That's right! Your briefings are brief and informative, and barely any briefings are brief at all. That's kind of weird but shows what a great princess you are!"

Wow, way to lay it on thick. But then, Ty Lee's specialty was thickness, especially in the skull area.

No. Offensive thoughts weren't very surrender-like, were they? Offenses were the opposite of surrender. Bad Mai. Don't think to yourself about how stupid your best friend is.

Huh.

Ty Lee really was her best friend, wasn't she? Certainly, Ty Lee was the only she hadn't even tried to kill so far. That probably qualified.

Azula, for her part, was taking all the compliments entirely at face value, judging from her sharpness of her little smile and the blaze in her eyes. (Not a literal blaze, though, which usually indicated anger and an affinity for the color blue.) "Excellent! Be sure to stop by the Royal Kitchens before you go, and get something to eat from the buffet. The rations being distributed to the soldiers are rather plain."

It was as Mai was happily raiding the basket of sweetrolls that another good idea for Surrendering occurred to her. "Hey, let's take this with us."

Ty Lee paused in the middle of trying to drink a cup of jasmine tea and a cup of oolong tea at the same time. "Wow, you're really hungry."

"No, I- uh-" Mai's voice faltered, and she found that she was actually afraid to say the next part, afraid to reveal a desire to do something nice for someone else for no gain. That was the type of thing that could get you killed around here, or at least banished with half of your face stinging due to the lack of skin covering it. But Mai didn't have to worry about that kind of thing, did she? Not anymore. "Azula said the rations were plain. I thought the soldiers at the temple would like a sweetroll to go with them."

Ty Lee gaped. Then she started clapping and jumping up and down, in the process nearly giving her clothes a jasmine-and-oolong soaking. "I love it! You're in such a good mood today! Whatever Zuko is giving you, I need to try some!"

Mai smirked. "Watch your wording. I don't share my boyfriend. Not that way."

Ty Lee laughed as they absconded with the sweetrolls.

Mai was still smirking when they arrived at the temple courtyard, but she pushed it off her face as a burly army guy trotted over on cue.

"My Ladies, Colonel Lee reporting! I've successfully evacuated the Fire Sages, and my soldiers are stationed throughout the first floor of the main temple building. I have an elite force ready to spill out into the courtyard at a moment's notice, and my subordinates have been given a plan to rapidly deploy continuing waves as required. Naturally, we've saved some space for you two right with that first wave."

Mai nodded. "Well done, Colonel. Here, have a sweetroll."

"Ooh! Thank you, my lady."

The soldiers inside the temple were equally receptive to the idea of a breakfast treat. As Mai handed out the rolls, she made a point of asking each soldier his or her name. She doubted she'd remember them all, but working on learning them would make the repetitions a bit more interesting. Besides, she was well aware that not learning names was the best defense against connecting with people, and Surrender was all about lowering defenses, right?

She hoped this wouldn't end up hurting her.

But then, Zuko had already taken care of that. She had nothing to lose.

How liberating.

The new Unofficial Official Sweetroll Redistribution Program took up a good chunk of the morning, and Mai made sure to preserve one last roll in time to go back out to the courtyard and find Colonel Lee talking with their metal-legged runner. He waved when he saw her. "Ah, my lady! The invaders have landed at the harbor and our forces have engaged!"

Mai nodded. "Everything's going to plan, then. Is this the runner who brought the news?"

"Private Fan, my lady!" The girl straightened to attention with the usual clang of metal on stone. "It is an honor to meet you."

"Thanks. Here, would you like a sweetroll? I have an extra after sharing."

Private Fan smiled as she took it, but rather than biting into it, she tucked it into a pouch on her belt. "You have my gratitude, my lady. I probably won't get a chance to eat much as the invasion pushes inward. I'll save this for later."

"Good." As long as everyone was in a pleasant mood, Mai decided to risk satisfying something she'd been curious about. "I see that you wear a prosthetic. Doesn't that make it more difficult to do your duties?"

"No, my lady." Private Fan's face was clear of any expressions of offense, distaste, anger, or even carefully sculpted blankness. "I was serving in the colonies, and my leg was crushed in an engagement with rebels. I was very fortunate that the Army gave me a replacement and transferred me to serve as a Caldera Guard. I took walks through the city here to help me get used to the prosthetic, and I've learned all the streets and shortcuts. I volunteered to be a runner today to use that knowledge to help my homeland."

Huh. Apparently, there was more to service than just physical capability. For someone who had risen to the top based on a self-taught ability to put sharp metal where enemies didn't want it, that was news. "Well, good job. Be sure to let us know when the action is about to start."

Fan bowed, ran off, and then it was back to waiting.

Mai didn't go out on any excursions this time, instead finding enough to occupy her in the temple. The soldiers, their moods warmed by the free sweetrolls, were a bit more conversational than usual, and soon they were regaling Mai and Ty Lee with stories of exciting battles and particularly clueless commanding officers. Mai had to admit that some of the latter stories were actually kind of funny, and she would have lost track of time if not for the regular reports from Private Fan.

Mai noticed, each time, that the pouch with the sweetroll was still bulging.

Then came the boring part, where they all had to wait for a battle that wouldn't happen. The only thing worse than dreading something was dreading nothing, and sitting around while the sounds of fleeing invaders echoed through the temple walls was a whole lot of nothing. Mai listened carefully this time, to see if she could pick out the voices of Water Tribe Guy With The Black Sword, Toph, Katara, or the Avatar, but there was nothing.

How odd to actually know people on the other side of the war.

Then the other runner arrived, the one who wasn't Private Fan, with the news of the invasion being over and the invaders being captured and blah, blah, blah.

"Let's go," Mai said to Ty Lee. "I want to get home."

But as they walked, Ty Lee looked at the path they were taking, and had an unusually perceptive moment. "This isn't the way to your house."

Mai kept her face blank. "I'm taking the scenic route."

"We have a scenic route?"

"Sure, it goes by the park."

"But the park has walls around it."

"And those are some fantastically sexy walls."

Ty Lee laughed, but Mai couldn't enjoy it. She spotted a dark stain on the path ahead, as well as the cracks in the street around it where a large boulder must have landed.

And over by the park wall, something small had been left lying in shadow. Mai went over and picked it up.

It was a sweetroll with one bite taken out of it.

Well, that wouldn't do.

Mai had done something nice for perhaps the first time in her life, and she was not going to let it be incomplete.

"I'll be back," Mai said to Ty Lee just after news had arrived at the temple that the invaders had broken through the harbor gate and were making their way to the Caldera. "I have to go to the bathroom. I might be a while."

Ty Lee made a face. "That's what you get for eating so many sweetrolls."

In a way, it was true.

But Mai wasn't going to the bathroom.

She snuck out of the temple, silently and sneakily made her way down to the park, and picked out a large, lush, particularly shady tree in which to hide. One of the higher branches afforded a look over the wall, and Mai crouched in the shadows of the leaves as she watched the street.

When Private Fan came running up the road, Mai launched herself over the wall, came to a rolling landing in front of Fan, and held up a hand. "Stop!"

Private Fan skidded to a halt.

Behind Mai, a large boulder thudded to a landing that some might have labeled a close call, but she just thought of it as the natural result of being very good at eyeballing trajectories.

"Okay," she said. "You can go now. Enjoy your sweetroll."

Private Fan blinked. "You- how-"

But Mai was already leaving, heading back to the temple to once again play the part of someone who didn't have supernatural knowledge of the day's proceedings.

In retrospect, if she hadn't been so intent on making a dramatic exit, she might have been able to pick up some clues about where Private Fan was going to get run over by a tank.

"Come on, Mai. It's time to embrace the day! Hey, that rhymed."

Mai groaned. There had been no evidence that Private Fan hadn't been able to enjoy her sweetroll before having her life ended by an Earth Kingdom war machine, and so no real reason why Mai had to go to the trouble to prevent it.

But it was Mai's first inclination, probably just because she was a perfectionist when it came to things she actually attempted. After all, she knew herself, and knew that she couldn't actually care about Fan.

But resisting that inclination was the opposite of Surrender, so that was that.

She needed information.

Mai should have realized the problem with her plan. Yes, she needed a way to observe Private Fan without actually tailing the woman all day. Of course, the rim of the Caldera offered many excellent spots for watching the city. It was natural, then, to head up there after saving Fan from the boulder to watch what happened next.

But she had forgotten that Katara would be coming down into the city at the same time.

Somehow, despite the odds against such a coincidental meeting, Mai wound up running into the Waterbender right at the edge where civilization met rocky volcano slope.

"You!" Katara tensed and summoned water from the pouches on her back.

Mai dropped to the ground, lying flat and raising her hands above her head. "I surrender!"

Please, please let this work. Having to save Private Fan while wearing one of Ty Lee's swimsuits would be the final indignity.

Katara moved-

-Mai tensed and waited for the feeling of ice poking into her skull-

-and water splashed across Mai's back before freezing and pinning her to the street.

Oh, good.

Katara eased her wounded warrior companion to the ground and stomped over. "What are you doing?"

Mai sighed. "Trying to save someone I know from getting killed. I'm going to miss it, now."

Katara laughed. "Like you Fire Nation monsters care about anyone."

"I'm trying something new."

"-That's not what I was expecting you to say."

Mai rolled her eyes. "What do you want to hear from me? That I do care about stuff? That I have a best friend I'm constantly cruel to because I'm a jerk? That I still really like my boyfriend even though he doesn't want anything to do with me anymore and I broke up with him because he doesn't want people to get hurt? That I started giving away sweetrolls because I didn't want to go crazy but it turns out to be a fun way to spend my mornings?"

Katara took a step back. "Um-"

"Ugh, just finish it already. We're just wasting time."

"Um-"

Mai lowered her head and pointed to where her back hair-bun was tied. "Go ahead, give me the icicle right here. Make it nice and cold."

"Um-"

"Seriously, we're wasting time, here. Hurry it up." Mai waited for the end to come, but it didn't. Instead, the ice on her back warmed and turned to water, soaking her briefly before the water then flew out of her clothes and into the air.

Mai looked up.

Katara was streaming the water back into the skin pouches with some intricate hand motions. "You should go. We're going to take down the Fire Lord. If you stay away from the fighting, you won't get hurt."

Mai blinked. "Why?"

Katara's lip twisted in what might have been the beginnings of a smile, or could have been a pained grimace. "You seem like you're having a bad day, and you let my brother and Toph go back in Ba Sing Se. This makes us even."

Katara went back to the injured Water Tribe man and helped him back into a standing position, leaning on her shoulders. They started making their way down the road-

"Wait," Mai said.

Katara turned and looked back.

Mai sighed. "It's a trap. The Fire Lord is hiding in an underground bunker maze that will keep your friends running around until the eclipse is over." She remembered what happened the last time she warned Katara of this, and continued, "Even if you start trying to pull your army out now, you won't get away before Azula's airships launch and drop bombs on your weird underwater boats. I don't know what to tell you to do, but maybe that information will help you."

Katara and her compatriot were staring.

Mai turned and ran. If she was lucky, she still might be able to see something about Fan.

In this case, she wasn't lucky, but she did learn something new.

Given enough time, an army of Earthbenders can work together to create a tunnel into the ground that will eventually let them flee far enough for most to escape into the countryside of the Capital Island.

Huh.

So it turned out that General Iroh made his escape during the Eclipse.

Mai walked into Iroh's funky-smelling cell an hour before the eclipse, tugging her sleeves back into place. Behind her, the passages of Capital Prison Tower echoed with the frustrated noises of the guard staff, all of whom apparantly shared a strong aversion to being pinned to walls with knives. What a strange coincidence.

From within a cage built into the far wall, Iroh looked up at her.

Mai said, "I'm reliving the same day over and over, just like you did at Ba Sing Se. We've spoken about it before, but right now I need some specific advice."

Iroh was silent for a long moment. "I see. And you are? You seem familiar-"

"Mai. I'm one of Azula's friends."

"T-"

"No, the other one. I'm also dating Zuko, or will be until I return home after all the action today and find the note he left me breaking it off so that he can join the Avatar."

"W-"

"This has nothing to do with Zuko. I kind of accidentally discovered that I have the chance to keep a lot of enemy invaders from being captured today when they fall into Azula's trap, and for some reason I'm considering it, but that means leaving them free to do whatever here in the Fire Nation and that's wrong, right?"

Iroh stroked his beard. "You are torn between loyalty to your people, and your basic decency as a person."

Mai couldn't stop herself anymore. She surrendered, dropping to her knees in front of the cage and leaning her forehead against the bars. "I don't get it! I don't have a basic decency! I don't even know how to borrow one! That's why I've never been able to stop Zuko from leaving. He cares about saving the world and wants to go save it, and I couldn't give an elephant-rat's fat backside about anyone but myself and the handful of people I tolerate!"

Iroh broke out into a smile that was as bright as the sun. "Zuko has come to his senses? And I missed it? Hn, truly, the world sometimes seems as if it has a sense of humor. And you love Zuko, eh?"

Mai leaned back from the bars and frowned. "Well, love is a strong word, and just because he's throwing it around-"

"Zuko has a good heart, even when he cannot hear it. That is the great tragedy of the Fire Nation: we are an honorable people, but this war had turned even the greatest of us against our natural, good instincts. I am especially sorry for your generation. You have inherited a poisoned legacy that has only become sharper and more deadly to everyone. And Zuko, especially, has been forced to grapple with this legacy in ways that have nearly destroyed him."

Mai shuddered. "Yeah, I don't mind how he looks, but to know that he was hurt like that- well, that's the part that turns my stomach. Not his scar."

Iroh smiled. "I think perhaps you resemble him more than you realized, in ways beyond the physical. Both of you have to find your way to true selves."

Mai deflated, allowing herself to fall and slump against the sticky stone wall. (Ew.) "So if I care so much, what am I supposed to do about it? I can't be a good little servant to opposite sides of a battle at the same time."

"No, you cannot. But I was intending to leave this prison today, and to help with my travel arrangements, some of my- hm, let's call them my friends, yes? I have friends nearby who might be able to help. If you could get word to me, and then I let them know of the opportunity to do some more good by helping the Avatar's invasion force-"

Mai nodded, and made herself stand up. (Her robes clung to the wall until she yanked them away, and she resolved to go home to change and burn this whole outfit. True, she could just wait for it to be restored 'tomorrow,' but burning it would be an extra reassurance.) "I think perhaps something could be arranged."

"Until tomorrow, then."

"Until tomorrow."

Something was arranged. Specifically, Mai sent a note at the earliest possible opportunity. Then it was just a matter of passing the warning on to Katara again.

Mai had to admit, she wasn't exactly thrilled how this part always consisted of getting her underwear frozen. "It's a trap," she explained from her mandatory position sprawled in the street. "The Fire Lord is hiding in an underground bunker maze that will keep your friends running around until the eclipse is over. Even if you try to pull your army out now, you won't get away before Azula's airships launch and drop bombs on your weird underwater boats. Have your Earthbenders work together to make a tunnel out of the volcano on the northern side, and some friends of General Iroh will be waiting to help everyone find shelter."

Katara, still supporting her wounded compatriot, narrowed her eyes. "That sounds pretty convenient."

Mai sighed. "Okay, you'll believe that I'm trying to save my friend, but not something this big. I supposed that's fair. Who's your wounded buddy there?"

The man nodded. "I am Hakoda of the Southern Water Tribe. Katara is my daughter. The young man you apparantly helped in Ba Sing Se is my son."

Mai considered that. "How did you get hurt?"

When Hakoda of the Southern Water Tribe assaulted one of the battlement towers bordering the Capital Harbor, he was not alone. Oh, he thought he was alone, climbing in through the ballista port in a sneaky bid to snip a little off the top of the long odds, but the truth was that he had backup.

Self-appointed backup, but Mai had a bad habit of appointing herself. Her mother would be scandalized.

And so Hakoda jumped in, started fighting the soldiers manning the tower, and when an unnoticed little coward dropped one of the explosive charges meant to be mounted on the ballista bolts, Mai was there to catch it.

Then she smashed an elbow into the soldiers face to drop him to the ground.

Hakoda whirled and waved a club at her in a vaguely threatening manner. "Who are you?"

Mai gave that flirty, shy smile Ty Lee had taught her, and was very careful not to drop the explosives. "Your new best friend."

It was a fairly neat job, if Mai was allowed to say so herself. Too bad, when the invading army retreated to the positions she had specified, that none of Iroh's friends were there to help. The earliest opportunity to send Iroh a note, it seemed, did not prove as early, or by extension as opportune, as desired.

And so Mai wound up watching as Azula's airship fleet scattered, the individual crafts chasing after the failed invaders who were retreating across the countryside, where they would do who-knows-what (but-I-can-imagine-a-lot-of-bad-things) to any Fire Nation citizens they encountered.

Just like the first time she tipped off Katara.

Mai sighed. "I can't get a note here early enough."

Iroh paced across his cell. The movement somehow made the place smell even worse. Apparantly, baths were not considered part of a prisoner's rights in the Fire Nation. Perhaps Mai would bring a perfumed cloth tomorrow.

"I suppose we will have to make a direct connection, then," Iroh eventually said. "I can give you the names of my friends, as well as a set of passcodes you'll have to include with your note."

"Passcodes?"

"For example, you should start each note with the phrase, 'I still cling to the old ways, and so can always find a friend.' Also, you will need to include a White Lotus Pai Sho tile-"

"Ah, cloak'n'dagger stuff." Mai snorted. "You boys and your games."

"Yes, but we have such fun with them," Iroh chuckled.

Mai wrote a set of strategic letters even before she hit the bathroom in the morning, all in accordance with Iroh's instructions. All, that is, aside from the troublesome little condition of including a certain piece from the most boring game ever devised by humanity.

"White Lotus pieces," Mai muttered, hurrying out of the bedroom.

Ty Lee called out, "What?"

But Mai was too busy to answer.

Ah, the Fire Palace had a game room! It took an inordinate number of tries to discover this, but in Mai's defense, it wasn't common to for entire rooms to be hidden by a coating of dust.

Okay, she had the letters and all the authentication.

Now how to get them distributed?

Flirting might also work, but Mai judged that this was a moment for the Azula Glare, and so imagined a puma-shark as she approached her destination and then did her best impression of the creature's glower.

The guard at the door swallowed audibly.

Ah, good old Azula Glare.

Mai stalked right up to the guard and looked down on him despite being a good three inches shorter then him. "Is this Civilian Bunker number three?"

"Uh, yes, my lady, but-"

"But you're not allowed to open it until you get word that it is safe to do so. Except I'm here on a special mission from Princess Azula, and I need a girl named Jiao to be released to my custody. So you're going to open the door, and I'm not going to tell the Princess that you got in my way. By happy coinidence, that will also mean that she won't tell the Fire Lord about your insubordination, so you might actually live to enjoy your dinner. I think that summarizes the situation nicely, don't you?"

The guard swallowed again.

Then he unlocked the door.

As soon as it was open, Mai was assaulted by the sound of a woman wailing and screeching to be let out. The woman in question was being held back by the interior guards, and in their collective hysterics, they had all apparantly missed that the door had in fact been opened.

So Mai said, "Hey."

They all quieted and stilled. Some of the other crowded civilians in the bunker looked over curiously.

Mai pointed at the woman- Jiao, her old classmate- and motioned. "We're leaving. Hurry it up."

There was a moment of situational inertia, and then the guards backed away, and Mai grabbed Jiao and started dragging her along. They were out of the bunker and traveling up the secret tunnel that would take them to the surface when Jiao finally spoke up. "I- I'm allowed to leave?"

Mai reached into her belt and pulled out a bound stack of letters with White Lotus tiles tied to them. "If you promise to deliver these, without reading them, then I will forget to return you to the bunker. You can seek shelter in the Capital Temple. There will be soldiers there. Tell them Lady Mai sent you, and they will take you in and protect you, but there won't be any warfare there. The invasion will bypass it completely."

Jiao didn't speak again until they passed through the secret door and into the sunlight. "Thank you."

"Don't worry about it. We're helping each other."

Okay, get up, bounce on the bed with Ty Lee, pilfer Pai Sho tiles, write letters, finally hit the bathroom, get dressed quickly, be briefly briefed by Azula, send Ty Lee to steal the sweetrolls, rescue Jiao and pass on the letters, meet up with Ty Lee to pass out the sweetrolls, sneak out to save Hakoda, run back to meet Katara, pass on the warning, get backed up by a grateful Hakoda...

Well, now that the enemy was all sorted out, it was time to get back to helping her own side of the war.

As she watched the progression of the battle, she spotted a stray boulder arc over the park, towards a figure that was running through the streets-

Private Fan.

Somehow, this had all started with trying to save the runner, and that still wasn't accomplished yet.

Mai had to admit that it was all very interesting, though.

This time, the invaders went underground, and weren't seen again.

So, they were either eaten by dragon spirits, or Iroh's friends had arranged for a more subtle escape.

Good enough. Mai had more work to do.

Mai shoved Private Fan out of the way just a moment before the Earthbender-made wall exploded and a segmented Earth tank plowed through. Fan stumbled backwards just far enough to avoid injury, while Mai didn't quite make it far enough and even a quick roll left her sacrificing part of her sleeve to the tank's wheels.

Ha!

Finally did it!

Then they were surrounded by two dozen soldiers in green and really dumb-looking hemisphere hats. "Surrender, Fire Nation dogs! Your Firebending has abandoned you!"

Mai glared at him. "Not everyone from the Fire Nation is a Firebender. I'm offended at your assumption."

Private Fan hissed, "I will not surrender when my homeland is at stake! For the Fire Lord!"

Oh, for Sozin's sake-

Two dozen against one turned out to be really terrible odds.

Two dozen against two- when one of those people was covered in knives- was a little better. Unfortunately, it didn't prove to be entirely compatible with convincing Katara not to put an icicle in Mai's head.

"...so you're the famed General who cracked the Outer Wall of the Impenetrable City," Mai finished. "I'm tired of figuring this all out on my own. Tell me what I can do."

Iroh smiled. "That is only fair, I think. And, happily, I have an answer. You're too focused on individual moments, but trying to turn aside a river is much easier at the source than at the foot of the highlands."

Mai sighed. "No metaphors, please. They're really just for entertainment purposes only."

"Ah, you and Zuko truly are well-suited. He does not understand much of what I advise, either."

She had to smile at that. "He misses you, though. I don't know if he realizes, but he does. He's been angry at himself for what he did at Ba Sing Se, and now that he's sorted his mind out- or gone crazy, depending who you ask- he wants to help the Avatar save the world, and then make you Fire Lord."

"What?!" Iroh snapped to his feet. "He said that?!"

"Not in this iteration, but yeah, he has."

Iroh turned to stare up through the top of the cage, to the open window just above the bars. "I miss him, too."

Mai considered that.

"Zuko,

"I know you're leaving. I know what you have to do.

"And I understand.

"Deal with your father, and follow the Avatar. But I think you should take the time to stop on the Isle of the Black Cliffs, at the top of the cliffs themselves, just before sunset. You will find something there that is very important to you.

"I'd advise you to stay safe, but I know you won't. I trust you'll survive anyway.

"See you later. -Mai"

She put the note on the pillow at the foot of her bed, right where Zuko would find it.

"General Iroh,

"I am Mai, one of Azula's friends. No, the other one. I'm reliving the same day over and over, just like you did at Ba Sing Se. We have been consulting on this matter.

"After your escape, I need you and your weird Pai Sho 'friends' to wait on the Isle of the Black Cliffs until sunset. I think you'll find it a rewarding little break."

She folded it carefully so that none of the words would be visible, put it in an envelope, and wrote instructions on it that it was to be delivered to General Iroh unopened. Then she placed it in one of the notes that claustrophobic Jiao would be delivering to Iroh's partners in treason.

Once Mai got Iroh to explain his stupid river metaphor, it turned out to be pretty good advice. Private Fan couldn't get killed in the fighting if there wasn't any fighting.

"New orders from Princess Azula," Mai told one of the Fire Army commanders pretending to be hapless Home Guard defenders. "Don't bother with attacking the invaders when they enter into the city. Pull back to the palace like you're making a last stand, and then 'discover' that your Firebending doesn't work and surrender."

The commander, to his credit, didn't ask if Mai was crazy. Instead, he put in more polite military-speak, saying, "I'm not clear on the purpose behind this change in strategy, given our mission parameters."

Mai kept her face blank. "It has to do with psychology. Princess Azula has been reading books again." Then she winked.

The commander gave a slow nod. "Books. I see."

It didn't turn out to be much of a war. Sure, there was plenty of fighting down by the harbor, but there was little Mai could do about that if she was going to set up the rest of her day and save Hakoda.

But once that was over, it was like that brief period, all those years ago, when Azula had been obsessed with arranging dominos into complicated standing arrangements, and then tipping one so that it bumped the next in line, and so on, so that all of them fell in a beautiful cascade. (That had lasted until the Fire Lord asked the about the usefulness of childish playthings.) Mai could watch over the city, and see conflict fade away. The Fire Nation forces fell back as the moon passed in front of the sun, while Katara hurried her allies into a retreat that became a disappearing act. Iroh escaped, Zuko escaped, and presumably they'd meet out beyond the Capital.

And once she got back to the temple-

"You missed the big moment," Ty Lee said as Mai walked back into the foyer.

"Yeah, well, sweetrolls apparantly are very bad for my stomach. Did I miss my chance to repel evil foreign invaders from my beloved homeland?"

"Nah, it just went quiet, and then Private Fan came by and said everyone escaped. I bet Azula is going to be really mad."

Mai thought of that her first experience with the Day of Black Sun, when she went back to the palace in terror that Zuko had gotten himself killed. Azula had not been in a mood that could, by any stretch of the imagination, be confused with 'good.' In fact, it could even be called murderous.

"More than just mad," was what Mai finally said. "Hey, can I tell you something in confidence?"

"I've never seen you not confident, even when you insist that there's no such thing as auras-"

"I mean I want you to keep a secret."

"Oh." Ty Lee grew serious. "I can do that."

Mai kept her voice low. "Zuko left to join the Avatar." She couldn't help but picture how Azula reacted, that time when Mai gave Zuko up, and the violence that had followed. Violence Mai had started. "Azula is not going to react well. I think- I think that if you have a way out of the Capital, you should use it. Go back to the circus. You know Azula isn't going to accept the blame for that if there's any other option. And you and I might end up being her only options."

Ty Lee was silent for a long moment. "What about you?"

Mai snorted. "I don't have anything to worry about. Let's just say I have the best protection imaginable."

"Ooh, are you going with Zuko?"

"What?" Mai blinked. "What good would that do?"

"Oh, I thought- if you know what's happening, that you're helping him." Ty Lee leaned forward and put her hands on Mai's shoulders. "Is that why you've been so nice today? You finally found a way to be happy?"

"No, I meant-"

But did it matter what Mai really meant?

Was Ty Lee really wrong?

It was hard, fitting in the theft of a war balloon with everything else.

But on this one point, Mai decided not to surrender.

Mai brought the war balloon down safely- both practice and not falling asleep while flying turned out to be equal components to a successful flight- on the Isle of the Black Cliffs, a short distance from where Zuko and Iroh were hugging. It seemed to be a very nice hug, which for Zuko was a major accomplishment, but Mai hardly considered herself an expert. Perhaps she could ask Ty Lee about the criteria, one of these days.

Now that Mai was here, she wasn't sure what she wanted to say.

She was spared having to figure it out when Iroh led Zuko over to her. "And this young lady has had a very busy day, too, from what I have heard."

Mai blinked. "I did? Or, you heard?"

"Indeed, my dear. My Pai Sho friends have been very informative about all the things you have been arranging. But you'll probably want to tell Zuko about them, yourself." He winked just a bit too broadly. "Now, I have business to attend to, business that will take me to the Earth Kingdom. Zuko, I have every confidence that you will succeed in your quest, and then we can meet again as we talked about."

Zuko nodded and said, "Yes, Uncle. And- and thank you. For forgiving me."

Iroh reached out and put his hands on Zuko's shoulders. "You have earned it. I am very proud of you, Zuko. And I know we will meet again soon."

"Uncle-"

The sun was well into setting when the goodbyes were finally finished, and then Iroh went to join the other White Lotus guys at their eelhounds. They continued on with their journey as Zuko finally turned to face her. "Mai."

"Zuko." She nodded.

"I- I just can't believe everything you've done. It's- it's amazing."

Mai shrugged. "Practice makes perfect."

His gaze turned questioning, but he must have decided to let it go. "I had no idea you felt like I did. You always seemed so- you- you didn't seem to care like I did. About the world. Or honor. Or anything, really."

Mai sighed. How was she going to explain this? At least, how could she explain it without twelve hours and Iroh's help to verify all the weirder elements?

But, really, there was a simple core to the answer that she could put into words: "You cared, and I care about you. That was the start, really. I can go into all the details when we have a few days to kill."

Zuko nodded. "I need to get going if I'm going to keep up with the Avatar. I saw the sky bison fly away once the rest of the invaders were safely hidden by Uncle Iroh's friends. I need to help them. I need to get the Avatar started on learning Firebending. We don't have much time until my father tries to destroy the Earth Kingdom, and we all need to be ready."

"I'm sure you'll do it. You accomplish anything you set your mind to, even if you do go about it in pretty inefficient ways, sometimes."

He smiled. "Maybe you can help me with that. You must be pretty efficient to do all that you've done today."

Help him? "Zuko, do you- I- I'm not coming with you."

He lost his smile instantly. "You aren't? But- why?"

Mai opened her mouth to answer-

-but didn't have one to give. Why shouldn't she come? When dawn came, she'd just wake up in the Capital again. What was keeping her from spending more time with Zuko?

"You know," she said, reaching out to put her arms around him, "maybe I will go with you. For efficiency's sake, of course."

"Of course."

This time, he didn't pull away.

This time, when they kissed, it wasn't a way of saying goodbye.

They took Zuko's war balloon, and sailed towards the moon.

This, truly, had been the best Day of Black Sun yet.

TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW

"Come on, Mai. It's time to embrace the day."

And so it started again, with a chipper cutesy voice and a call to action.

#maikoweek2017 #zumai #avatar mai #zuko #26 HOURS LATE ARGGHHH

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subukunojess · 8 years ago

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Gravity Falls: Omniscience

Okay... hopefully this works. This is my first time posting up my stories here. I know that this AU is probably unlikely, but I had fun writing this. Actually, I originally did this one-shot for a college assignment where we had to write a fanfiction of basically anything we wanted and I took it as an opportunity to write for my GF AU. Hope you guys enjoy this~

Stanford watched the metallic bus drove down the dusty road back to Piedmont, California as it passed a large sign that read “You are now leaving GRAVITY FALLS”. The bus got smaller and smaller until it disappeared amongst the trees. He sighed, continuing to stare at the evergreen as the wind blew on his body, foretelling the official end of summer. If someone were to tell Stanford Filbrick Pines that thirty years after his youth he would save the world and reunite with his family, he would’ve scoffed and continued his research. A six-fingered freak becoming a hero? It was absurd! Truth be told, his brother Stanley was the real hero. Unlike his nerdy twin, Stan still believed in family and he put his own life on the line for it. It helped that he had a mean left hook too. Still after the regret and torture he was put through a week ago, Ford couldn’t help but wonder that this outcome of events seemed too easy. “Hey Poindexter!” A warm hand touched his shoulder, snapping him out of his daze, “You asleep or somethin’?” Ford blinked, his view foggy as he adjusted his glasses, trying to focus on his brother. “I’m sorry, Stanley.” Ford apologized, “I don’t know what came over me. I guess this feels so unreal, you know? Dipper and Mabel are okay. We’re together-” “Yeah, I here ya.” Stan nodded, putting an arm around Ford’s shoulders. “I can’t believe it either! But what matters is that it turned out great in the end. Now, let’s go home, swindle some people one last time in this town, and get me out of this sweater until we set off for adventure!” The researcher smiled softly, “You didn’t change your optimism at all, nor your randomness.” He elbowed his brother with Stan returning it with his own. With that, the rest of the day passed by with the breeze. While Stan was giving his employee-turned-manager some last advise of running the Mystery Shack, Ford decided to take a stroll around the shack. He found himself staring at the massive hole on the ground known as the bottomless pit. To think that he threw his three journals, the three books that documented the mysteries and tragedies of Gravity Falls and the Pines family, in this pit! He had wanted to destroy the remaining physical mistakes of his past, but Dipper convinced him that they would be more useful if they were found by someone who wanted to dream and explore like he did. Now that he reconciled with his brother and dropped the books into the pit, it felt that Stanford was starting his new life with a blank slate. He still had his suspicions, but that was what brought him trouble to begin with. He needed to forget about it and focus on the present. ~~~ The following few days, Stanley and Stanford made preparations and travelled west to start their paranormal adventures across the seas. Stan managed to buy a boat waiting for them at the coast. It wasn’t a big yacht or anything fancy, but it wasn’t a sailboat either. The brothers didn’t care. It was sturdy and simple, the dream boat of their lost childhood. They named it the “Stan-o-War 2” and headed out of the harbor towards the Pacific Ocean, hoping to reach an anomaly found at the center of it. During those days, Ford tried to keep up with his brother and went along with everything, but once in a while he had migraines at random moments. He would shrug it off when they disappeared since they weren’t too drastic. One day after sailing for several days, the boat stopped to rest as Stan went on deck to fish while Ford wrote some notes on a journal. In the middle of his writing, a sharp pain suddenly overcame his brain as if sharp claws were slicing his head piece by piece. He dropped his pen and took hold of his skull with both hands, hearing ringing in his ears. He opened his eyes and was about to call out to his brother, but noticed the water in front of them bubbling rapidly before a massive black tentacle came out of the surface. Ford held his breath before he suddenly ran for the wheel and started the boat quickly, trying to get away. Stan almost fell out of the boat, but he pulled himself back up, losing his fishing pole. “What’s the big idea? I almost caught something!” The brother exclaimed, disappointed at his lost catch. Stanford ignored him. As he drove on to avoid the tentacles, his perception started to change. Skies of blue flashed back and forth to blood red. White clouds turned black. Calm waters were now waves of torture crashing against their ship. Ford squinted, trying to get the images out of his mind. The wheel seemed to disappear constantly at his touch. “Whoa, Ford! Keep your grip on the wheel!” Stan exclaimed, staggering on the bouncing deck. Hearing those words, Ford woke up from his trance for a second, breathing heavily. His right eye started throbbing continuously, causing him to press on it with the palm of his hand. “There’s nothing to worry about…” He reassured, more to himself than to his brother, “I can control it. I got this!” “No, you don’t. Give me the wheel!” Stan came from behind, pulled Ford to the side, and firmly held the wheel. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but you’re really losing your mind, Sixer!” Ford was about to interject when he suddenly caught on the name. “… What did you just call me?” He muttered. “I said Sixer! It’s your name iSN’t iT?” The image of Stanley was replaced by a large yellow triangle floating, staring at Ford with its one eye gleefully. He knew it all too well. “Bill Cipher… We-We defeated you before! Y-You shouldn’t be here!” Stanford backed away, stuttering. His brother now became concerned. He grabbed Ford by the shoulders and shook him a bit. “Snap out of it! That stupid triangle’s not here. I should be the one getting headaches, not you! It’s not real, Ford! It’s not REAL!” Ford hyperventilated, Stan and Bill switching places back and forth in his view. His mind was playing tricks on him. He closed his eyes and shook his head, whispering for the thoughts to go away, but they overwhelmed him. All of a sudden, something slimy encircled his waist, making him open his eyes. Two black tentacles had a hold of him. From behind him, a massive Bill Cipher was in the water, roaring, “TIME’S UP!” The tentacles pulled their target, dragging him into the ocean. “STANLEY, HELP ME!” Ford grabbed his brother’s hand, refusing to let go. The tug-o-war abruptly ended with a simple tug from the tentacles and Ford found himself calling his brother’s name as he was forced into the ocean, red water filling up his lungs. Then everything turned black.

~~~ This was the moment Ford was waiting for. Stanley dropped down to his knees, his eyes closed and his face frozen as if he were sleeping. After the old twins were trapped in a pyramid cage and were forced to watch their grand-niece and nephew run away from the one-eyed beast all over the fear-a-mid, they devised a secret plan. All they had to do was switch clothes, pretend to be the other, let Bill into Stan’s mind, and then Ford would erase his brother’s memories with Bill trapped inside. Ford was hesitant going through with this plan. What if Cipher caught on early at the ruse? There were many possibilities that this plan could fail. However, it was the only plan they had and Stan insisted on it. Once it started, the brothers could never turn back. Ignoring the kids, Stanford took off his brother’s red fez from his head and prepared the memory gun. It was now or utter destruction. As Ford dialed the name “STANLEY PINES”, he focused on his brother. If he went through with this, Stanley won’t remember anything about his life again. As he stared at the grey hair, the square glasses, the shaven chair, it was like looking at a reflection. He was shooting himself. Ford aimed, his arms trembling as he closed his eyes, turned his head to the side, and pulled the trigger, a light blue laser blasting on Stan’s forehead. What he didn’t notice was Stan’s eyes suddenly open at that moment, glowing a cat-like yellow. The next few seconds moved on like minutes. Ford was pounced upon by his brother, his weight pinning him down as his wrist was grabbed by cold hands, causing him to drop the gun. “Nice try, Six-Fingers!” Stan laughed, his voice hoarse and crackling with fire as it was joined with a loud, high-pitched voice. “You gotta do better than that to bring me down!” “You’re supposed to be trapped in there, Cipher! Let my brother go!” Ford struggled to get free, only to wince as his possessed brother applied pressure, almost crushing his bones. “Bill!” Dipper and Mabel exclaimed in terror, which quickly changed to anger, “Leave our Grunkles alone!” The two charged at the demon in hopes of ramming him down. Bill scowled and used one of his hands to snap his fingers. The children immediately dropped to the floor and iron bars burst from the ground, entrapping the twins in a cage. “Kids!” Ford screamed, forcing his arm to stretch out towards the cage. Bill noticed and elbowed the arm hard when his arm raised up and punched his own face all of a sudden, freeing Stanford. Ford dragged himself backwards, glancing up. For a moment, Stan’s eyes turned back to their normal brown as he cried out with his familiar voice, “Forget about me! Just stick with the plan!” The brother frowned and focused on getting the memory gun, crawling towards it as Stan punched himself repeatedly, fighting Bill for control. Both sixty-year-old men fought on. After what seemed to be an hour, Ford managed to reach the gun. He grabbed it and sat up straight, aiming it again at Stan when he froze at the sight before him. Stanley’s eyes pieced with golden ferocity, snarling with a switch-blade army knife against his neck. His face was covered in bruises. He roared, “Don’t get any ideas!” “You wouldn’t dare…” Ford narrowed his eyes, thinking it was a sorry excuse for a bluff. “Oh, I WOULD dare! Make any more moves and my hand will slip! If I’m going down, you’re all going down harder!” To prove it, Bill slightly pressed the shining metal on the neck, a cut forming and revealing blood. “Stop!” Ford barely choked, having seen enough. Tears weld up in his eyes, “I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll do anything! Just please… please don’t hurt my family! They’re all I have left!” Bill was silent, staring at Ford in disbelief. Seeing him genuinely cry and beg for mercy, the demon smirked. “That’s better. You know what I want. We both drop our weapons and you give it to me.” The mortal obliged. Slowly the two dropped the gun and the knife, staring each other down. Ford stood up tall and took a deep breath, taking it all in before he told Bill the equation... ~~~ Ford woke up with a forceful gasp, his head resting on top of his arms. He panted heavily as waves of orange and brown filled his vision. Was it one of those long nightmares that lasted for eternity? He expected that would be the case, that his brother would come into his room and greet him casually like it was a normal day. “About time you woke up from that dream! I was beginning to worry about you!” A voice laughed mockingly. It was too good to be true. Ford’s eyes widened, having remembered seeing the same orange and brown colors in textbooks and telescopes. He was staring right at Saturn as he rested on its rings. He let out a cry and stood up… well, floated up, looking at himself. Instead of the brown coat and red sweater he always wore, he had a long black overcoat, a yellow sweater, brown pants, and fancy black shoes on his body. Sitting on Saturn was Bill, now a planet-sized triangle floating above it. He continued, “Here, I tried to wake you up from your dreams and you wouldn’t budge, so I just came back from eating Pluto!” Seeing the look of disbelief Ford gave him, he added, “Relax, no one would notice! Pluto wasn’t a planet anyway!” Hearing that, it was all coming back to him. The plan failed horribly with Bill about to end his brother’s life. Seeing the only person who truly cared about him about to die, Ford couldn’t take it. He gave in and helped Bill take down the weirdness force field. In moments, Bill and his gang of unusual freaks he called friends grew into the overlords of the universe, bringing chaos to the surrounding galaxies. However, the triangle didn’t forget his promise to Ford. He made him an immortal being as well, giving him abilities one would dream about and taking away his human limitations. Under specific conditions, North America was spared the insanity and wrath, letting the remaining Pines family believe that they won. When they were awake, Ford would be there, pretending to be there as if nothing happened. It was illusions and nothing more. As Ford became silent, Bill talked about how he broke some universal laws and how he played dodgeball in a meteor shower with his friends. The new immortal didn’t pay attention, but did make out one sentence or two, “And don’t worry about my guys. I sent them off to claim galaxies of their own. The milky way only belongs to you and me, the head rulers of the universe!” Ford wanted to punch Bill right in the eye, his hands tightening into fists. Acting so smugly as if everything was all fine and dandy. Always interrupting his time with his family in order to wake up into reality! However, he couldn’t do a thing. If he rebelled, it was back to the Pines family being dead at Stanford’s feet. After a while, he spoke up softly. “Bill, I want to see him again…” “What? But you just did that now!” “… I want to see him when I’m awake.” Bill just shrugged and rolled his eye. “Fine! Just this once… besides, I want another go at our new form!” With that, Cipher closed his eye and glowed yellow, merging his body with Ford’s. Stanford gagged and moaned, feeling his forehead and right eye burn as blue fire came out of his body and went to his neck and wrists, becoming glowing blue chains and shackles. He opened his eyes with his right eye yellow with slanted pupils. Now fused and ready, he made his way to his old planet. As he got closer to Earth, he could hear the agonizing screams of humans in his mind getting louder, but for today, they don’t matter. He needed to see Stan. He stopped in front of Earth, towering over it as he gazed upon it. The Earth now had red oceans instead of blue. Except for North America, all of the other continents were broken and scrambled all over the place. Moving towards the back, Ford searched the Pacific Ocean until he found the small boat, zooming in on it. It was on stand-still, bobbing up and down the calm, crimson water. Stanley’s body was sprawled on the deck, unconscious but breathing slowly. He was alright. His brother was alright. In awe, Ford slowly reached for his brother with his enlarged hand. Before his six fingers could break the atmosphere, a sudden force slapped his hand away. His brother appeared before him as a young child, glaring at him. “You promised, Ford!” Stan growled, tears in his eyes, “You promised me we would always stay together! How could you?!” That did it. Tears of blood streamed down his cheeks steadily before the giant let go of Earth and flew to Mars. He wailed at the top of his lungs as he pounded his fists on the red planet, dust flying everywhere. He found himself crying and laughing with Bill at the same time. He lost everything; his normal life, his family, his brother. For all eternity, he was forever bound by Cipher, cursed with omniscience.

#gravityfalls #gravity falls #au #omniscience #omniscienceau #oneshot #story #billcipher #stanford pines #stanley pines #family #angst #billford #SNJ Stories

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