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destiny-dreamwielder · 3 years

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I Can Feel Time Moving

Rating: T

Pairing: Destiny DreamWielder (OC) x Malorn Ashthorn (Platonic on its way to romantic.)

Summary: Ravenwood hasn’t had a graduation ceremony in decades, but that doesn't mean it hasn’t had graduates beside Destiny.

Word Count: 1.5k

Warnings: Angst from discussion of Destiny's trauma.

A/N: I recently noticed that Malorn wasn’t at our graduation, which is an absolute crime. I wanted to give some explanation, and it also gave me an excuse to finally write a Destiny x Malorn fic as I’ve been thinking about them for ages. Title is from “Nothing New” by Taylor Swift and Phoebe Bridgers.

Standing tall in her cap and gown, Destiny felt her heart swell with pride as Headmaster Ambrose placed a Ravenwood hood over her shoulders. Her school colors of blue and gold laid across her chest, and the Ravenwood crest hung down her back. Her eyes were still watery from hearing Cyrus compliment her, something she’d never imagined he’d do, and a few tears ran down her cheeks as she looked out over the crowd applauding her. So many people had come to celebrate her accomplishments, and she couldn’t help the wide smile the thought causes.

Her joy was short lived, though, as a cold wind cut through the air and Bartleby shivered.

“Oh dear,” Ambrose murmured, “well that was certainly unexpected! And did you see Bartleby? I’ve never seen him quite so frightened!” He turned to Destiny, concerned, before glancing up at the sound of Moolinda’s hoofs clicking as she hurried to check on Bartleby. “Hmm,” he continued, “There goes Professor Wu inside the World Tree. Perhaps you should go and ask if she needs assistance.”

Destiny felt her heart sink. Of course she had to deal with this. When had anyone ever let her have any time to herself since she’d left Earth?

“I hope you can discover the meaning of this,” Ambrose remarked sadly, “I’ll be in my office.” The crowd began to disperse, and Lady Oriel’s fairies quickly got to work cleaning up the decorations. The teachers all shook Destiny’s hand and congratulated her again before descending the steps and heading back to their classrooms.

Shawna, Myrna, and Neela quickly ran on stage and hugged her tight. Myrna was the first to speak, her Polarian accent comforting. “I’m sorry we couldn’t call everyone in time, Destiny. No one knew this was happening. We couldn’t even find Malorn.”

Destiny had definitely noticed his absence, but he was as busy as she was. She tried not to notice how much she wanted him there. “It’s okay, Myr, I kind of gathered that. I’ll find you guys soon, don’t feel bad. This is my job, after all.”

Myrna opened her mouth to object, but Shawna put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. Shawna’s brown eyes were sad, but she knew how stubborn both Destiny and Myrna were, and clearly wanted to avoid any arguments.

Neela looked like she was going to cry. “You do so much for us all, Destiny. Thank you. I hope you know you’re still my hero.”

“Oh Neels, I know. I’ll come practice duel with you as soon as I’m done helping Bartleby. Now all of you, shoo. I’ve gotta go.”

They gave her one last hug before departing for the girls dormitory.

Left alone in Bartleby’s courtyard, Destiny sighed. Just before she could turn to follow Moolinda, though, she heard someone else calling out to her.

“Dez! Wait!” the voice implored, and she looked up to see Malorn Ashthorn jogging up to her from the tunnel to the Commons. “I’m so glad I caught you!”

She blinked at him for a moment, confused. “Malorn?”

“I’m sorry I’m late,” he huffed, out of breath. “No one told me this was happening, I was just trying to come here for class and I saw all the decorations. The fairies said it was for your graduation, so I went back to my apartment to get my hood. I guess I wasn’t fast enough.”

“It’s ok, I didn’t know it was happening either,” Destiny assured him, stepping off the platform to stand with him. Her brow furrowed after a moment as she processed his full statement and took in black and silver on his chest. “Why do you have a hood?”

Malorn looked away for a second, unable to meet her gaze. He ran his hand through his hair and sighed softly before finally looking at her again. “I, uh, I graduated while you were in Dragonspyre. Ambrose said there was no way to lift the school out of Nightside, and Dworgyn didn’t want to leave it, either. Ambrose needed someone to teach the kids who were too young to make the trip, and, since I was already doing that, he saw no need to find someone else.”

“But Gamma said- He said he couldn’t remember the last ceremony Ravenwood had had.”

“Yeah, I… didn’t really have one. It was just Ambrose and me.”

“Oh, Malorn,” Destiny sighed, throwing her arms around the boy before her. Malorn hugged her back, tightly.

He used to be so much older than her, but her frequent traveling through the Spiral had taken more time than had passed in Wizard City. He had once been fourteen while she was eleven, but now he’s eighteen while she’s seventeen. They’d clicked when they’d met on her first day, and he’d helped her to understand the new and unfamiliar world she had just become a part of. They’d hugged each other goodbye when she left for Krokotopia, expecting to be reunited quickly. But they didn’t see each other until she’d saved Krokotopia, Marleybone, Grizzleheim, Mooshu, Dragonspyre, and the Spiral at large. A year had passed for him, two had passed for her, and the maturity gap had been closed completely. He was the only one of her friends that truly understood her. Catherine knew exactly what she’d been through, but she didn’t feel the same sense of responsibility for everything that Destiny did, and she had no experience with Ambrose and the pressure he could place on someone. Myrna and Shawna were her oldest friends, but they couldn't understand it either. Malorn knew about the responsibility, the growing up too fast, and the feeling of Ambrose relying on you in a way that the others really didn’t.

For the few months of peace she’d had in Wizard City after Malistaire, he was truly her best friend. (Then, of course, came Ambrose’s misguided attempts to cheer her up with the Spiral Cup tournament, another trip to Grizzleheim, and “re-discovering” Celestia, and they were separated once again.) When she’d returned from defeating Morganthe four years later (three for him), Malorn had once again been there for her. She was struggling immensely with her failures in Azteca, and the guilt of Morganthe’s preventable demise only compounding on her guilt regarding Malistaire’s death. While she’d wallowed, and Catherine had thrown herself into her studies, Malorn had been the one person who’d made Destiny feel anything close to normal again. He was her best friend besides Catherine, and she was his. And now, they were here.

“Why didn’t you tell me everything when I came back?” she begged after a moment, feeling horrible that she hadn’t noticed the change on her own. She’d assumed everyone switched from “Acting Professor Ashthorn” to just “Professor Ashthorn” because Malistaire was dead.

“I didn't want you to feel bad for missing it. And when you and Cyrus came back from Dragonspyre, he told me what happened. I cared a lot more about making sure you were okay than about telling you what you’d missed. What you had to do… It was too much. You were a kid.”

Tears begin to leak from Destiny’s eyes. “So were you,” she sniffs, “and you were there for me. I wish I could’ve been there for you.”

“It’s ok, Dez. I wish I could be with you whenever Ambrose sends you out to save the Spiral. You’re a lot older than you should be, I don’t think Ambrose has noticed that. But they still made you grow up even more. And you’re still- You’re still too young to have been through all that you have. You’re different now. You’ve seen too much. You don’t deserve what you’ve been through, and now Ambrose wants you to do even more on the day where you’re supposed to have done enough.”

Destiny couldn’t speak. She was crying too much to get the words out. Instead, she buried her head in Malorn’s chest and held him as tightly as she could. He stroked her hair gently and let her cry.

“Th-Thank you, Malorn,” she choked out finally, lifting her face.

“You don’t always have to carry everything yourself. You can talk to Catherine, and Myrna, and Shawna. They’re your friends. They care about you. They want to help you. And I know I’ll always be here for you. Whatever you need.”

“I know,” she sighed, looking into his eyes and trying to convey her appreciation. “I just don’t want to be a burden. Not to them, and not to you.”

“You’re not a burden to people who care about you. And I care about you Dez, a whole lot,” he reminded her, smiling softly.

“I care about you, too,” she replied. “I have to help Bartleby but I- I want to talk to you again. As soon as I can.”

Malorn moved his hands to her face and kissed her forehead gently. “I’ll be here,” he promised, reaching around his back to take a hold of her hands and squeezing them once affectionately before letting them go, “Whenever you’re ready.”

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