#and more rayne (?) doodles as well | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ambersky0319 · 4 years

Note

Idea: Intrulogical fusion, completely in sync despite being a fusion of Remus and Logan. But Virgil and Patton didn't like it. Virgil because, It's Remus. He shouldn't be with a lightside. Patton because it makes him feel like he failed Logan, after all, hes eith Remus. So they force them apart. But, their roles are switched. Logan looks like King George III, but he has shackles & broken crown. Remus looks like your stereotypical mad scientist. They have no memory of who they once were. -Rayne

I had a lot of fun with this- also I decided to draw Macabre! It also ended up being longer than I intended. I hope y’all enjoy this!

Pairings : Intrulogical, Background Roceit

Warnings : Unsympathetic Patton, Morally gray but also pretty Unsympathetic Virgil (I mean, he feels somewhat regretful of what he does at the end-), Fusion, blood and pain mentions, if I need to add anything else please let me know!

Masterpost

—————————–

It started off as something small- an idea that Remus had, which Logan was more than happy to try. They were just figments of imagination, after all, it’s not like it was an impossibility. And it took a lot longer than either side believed it should have taken, but they got there.

Logan and Remus fused.

When they first fused, they cried. Tears streamed down their cheeks as they hugged themselves because it just felt so incredible, so loving. They hadn’t even looked in a mirror yet, but it felt right, being together like this. They fell to the ground just hugging themselves, rocking back and forth. He wasn’t them, though, and both Logan and Remus knew that. They could feel that. And when he looked in the mirror, that’s when they fell apart.

Logan and Remus were choking back tears of their own as they held one another, crumpled on the floor of Logan’s room. Remus buried his face into Logan’s neck, grinning wide as he laughed almost hysterically.

“I can’t believe that worked!”

“I can’t believe how that felt.”

The silence stretched on for a moment as they collected themselves until Remus broke it, pulling away from Logan slightly. “I want to do it again.” He said, reaching up to play with Logan’s hair. “Can we do it again, Lolo?”

Logan smiled the softest Remus had ever seen him smile, and he nodded. “Yes, whoever that was, it felt great. I would do it a hundred times or more.”

Remus giggled before leaning in, pressing a gentle kiss to Logan’s lips before they fused once again.

And so, Morbidity was created.

Morbidity stayed hidden for a long while, and Remus and Logan felt strange each time they unfused. They felt lonely, more so than they had before fusing. Remus had correlated it to how Ruby felt when she and Sapphire unfused and Ruby had gone on that adventure. And Logan couldn’t agree more. Being Morbidity was intoxicating, because when he formed, neither felt lonely or unloved anymore. And Morbidity felt more love than when Logan and Remus spent time together unfused.

Morbidity just felt right.

Morbidity didn’t want to unfuse anymore. Logan and Remus didn’t want to be apart, not when they were constantly torn down and ignored. So they stopped unfusing, and Morbidity stayed in his room. His own room! He had been shocked when it had formed but felt overjoyed nonetheless. Because it meant he was a part of Thomas, a true part of him! But with the new room, that meant that the others would start to notice. And they did.

Macabre, the name Morbidity found he liked most when brainstorming, was peacefully watching a documentary about some of the worst crimes ever committed to date. He was fascinated with how the killers had gotten away with it for so long, and how all the evidence from the buckets of blood that had needed cleaning up to the finest of hairs left behind all played a roll in solving the cases. He was writing a novel, a murder mystery, and wanted it to be as exciting and puzzling as possible. So research was needed.

That’s when his door was opened, no one knocking as it slammed against the wall. Macabre flinched at the sound, finally looking away from his television and notebook littered with notes and random, horrific doodles.

Standing there was Roman, stunned when he saw Macabre, dual-colored eyes staring into his green ones. “Um…”

Then Patton peered over his shoulder, confusion flashing across his face. “A new side?”

Macabre laughed, and it sounded like glass shattering. “Not a new side, Patty-cake. Merely an experiment gone extremely well!” Macabre stood, stretching and hearing his bones pop and feeling the pins and needles in his feet creeping up his legs. How long had it been since he last got up? He made a mental note to set a timer so that his limbs wouldn’t fall asleep like this again.

“…. Experiment?”

“Who are you?”

“What are you?”

Macabre frowned only slightly, fixing his glasses. “I’m Morbidity! I would say it’s great to finally introduce myself, but I believe your facial expressions aren’t the proper reactions one would want.

"And I was an experiment. Not one any longer, though! Remus and Logan sure enjoyed doing them. Maybe I should try it out too!”

“You’re behind Logan disappearing?!” Virgil’s voice raised a few octaves as he started on at the fusion. Macabre crossed his arms, now frowning completely.

“I’m not behind anything. And Logan didn’t disappear. Not completely.”

“What does that even mean?”

It seemed Roman knew the answer to Patton’s question, though, because he broke from his daze to answer. “Correct me if I’m wrong, Morbidity, but you’re a fusion.”

Macabre smiled. “Right you are, Roman! Oh, I knew you would remember. Remus didn’t think you would, but I knew you would.” He clapped his hands together, once.

“What’s he talking about Roman?” Virgil asked.

Roman only briefly looked at Virgil, offering a small, half-hearted shrug. “Remus brought up the idea one time that maybe sides could fuse. I just brushed it off, but it was definitely one of his good ideas.” He turned back to Macabre. “So… You’re a fusion of Remus and Logan?”

“Morbid Creativity and Logic sure go quite well together, don’t you think? Both always ignored, finding that they are the outcasts of their supposed families, and finding love in one another. It really shouldn’t be a surprise that they got along so well.”

“Wait wait wait, Logan fused with… With Remus?” Patton looked absolutely horrified.

“Well, they were dating for a year before they made me. But yes.”

“They were together?!”

“It really isn’t hard to believe, Patton.” Macabre glanced at his nails, painted as though they were dipped into blood. “Now, unless you three are interested in watching this documentary with me, can I get back to work?”

“We still have-”

“What are you working on?” Roman cut off Virgil, approaching Macabre. He shot Virgil and Patton a slight glare when they tried to protest. Because he could feel the anger and frustration, and even the panic radiating off the pair. “If you two even think of pushing Morbidity to talk, by the way, I’ll let Thomas know why I actually chose to go to the wedding.”

That sent the pair off, and Roman sat down with Macabre, the door closing. If this is what Remus and Logan wanted, to be together like this, then Roman would support it. He wasn’t in any place to judge though, considering just this morning he and Deceit had attempted to do the same.

It suddenly became very different around the Mind Palace, what with Macabre (or Copypasta’ as Roman and Deceit had taken to calling him after seeing Macabre’s love of creepypasta) having introduced himself to Thomas not long after the others had ventured into his room.

Thomas didn’t really mind Macabre, while he sometimes felt uncomfortable by the insane amount of violent knowledge he had, knowing about certain chemicals and their reactions to drinks was definitely helpful when attending bars. Especially when his drink shifted in color just slightly, and Thomas knew not to drink, because Macabre had remembered a case where someone had drugged their date. And Macabre got along with Deceit and Roman just fine(though the two still hadn’t come out yet).

Patton and Virgil, though? They were furious. They were absolutely livid that Logan would even agree to ever fuse with Remus. Logan deserved better than Remus, in their eyes.

They fueled one another, Virgil and Patton. They fueled the negative thoughts towards Macabre. He shouldn’t exist. He should have never existed in the first place. Logan was too good for Remus. What could Remus possibly offer that Logan would want, anyway, that Logan didn’t already have? The others had been working on showing their appreciation of Logan. Virgil and Patton had worked on not cutting him off, and Virgil had tried listening to him a bit more. Patton had stopped laughing at a few jokes Roman made about Logan.

And then there was Remus. The imbalance of negative and positive ideas was weird. Because Macabre wasn’t intrusive, not to the extent Remus had been. Now, Remus’s gruesome ideas were rationalized or internalized, suppressed in Macabre until he could jot down the idea and either write or draw the thought. Everything just felt wrong.

So they devised a plan, about three weeks after Macabre had been found by them.

Virgil had been horrified by Patton’s idea at first, listening reluctantly as Patton explained to him how to split a side. Because even if Virgil hated Macabre being together, and didn’t like Remus, he still remembered what the split had done to the twins. And he worried how that would affect Remus, going through another split. But Patton persuaded him, claiming that if all the facts that Thomas knew were tainted, were bad, then Thomas was a bad person. And Thomas couldn’t be a bad person, he just couldn’t. So Virgil agreed.

He doesn’t remember it much, though. He purposely forgot Macabre’s scream as he was quite literally torn apart. Virgil blocked the image of Macabre’s agonized face from his mind, keeping it a blurred memory that could have been a dream. He felt sick at the thought that he did it, but the idea that Logan would come back was enough to keep him from stopping.

Patton though was completely unfazed.

However, they didn’t get the outcome they had wanted.

Remus and Logan had indeed been split, that much was clear. But they weren’t Remus and Logan, not the ones that Patton and Virgil wanted.

They were pushed out of the way by Roman and Deceit, who had finally broken into the room that Virgil and Patton had sealed off. It looked so incredibly wrong, and to say Deceit and Roman were angry would be an understatement. They were bursting with rage as Logan and Remus finally stopped whimpering, the pain no longer overwhelming them. They cradled the two sides, all the while having a shouting match with Patton, Virgil making no attempt to defend his actions.

Roman held his brother tightly, though Remus only blinked at him in confusion, and once Deceit and Roman had stopped arguing with Virgil and Patton, they had turned their attention to the two sides, taking them in. The guilty pair sunk out to their own rooms, leaving Roman and Deceit with the new Logan and Remus.

Though they didn’t even know Logan and Remus were their names.

—————————–

Taglists

Just ask if you wish to be added, removed, or tagged/not tagged in certain content!

TS Taglist

@treasureofpriam @theloveliestsweetspongy @tacochippy @anderswrites @romanknite @0beansprout0 @random-fandom-dragon @daflangstlairde @princerhubarb @that-one-ts-artist @heyitsmeimjustkindahere @aromanticandaromatic @deliciouslycrookedme @batpinkstudentpersona @avocados26 @fandomloverangel @red-eyes88 @adarkgreensoul @analogicallythinking @thatreallyawkwardpotato @insanegoldie2 @gothams-lil-sweet-potato-pie @alexkittycat1 @len-art-trash @faithyfander @an-absolute-failure @lexilucacia @o-hello-its-me @fearthesmolpotato @moxiety-my-love @thatonenerdphotographer @diadems-arewornon-capita @morrogirl9024 @thefandomnerd15 @sulphur-and-honey @aroaceagenderfluid @yalltookmyurlideas @sidesareathing @surohsopsisofclouds @dissappropriation @demigodbookdragon @too-many-fandoms89 @a-soul-among-the-stars @croftersgamer @thenaiads @theyluna-womoon

Intrulogical Taglist

@cress-the-fander @worm-does-shit @enby-ralsei @jadedmidnight @virgilisacinnamonroll @ohgeneralmygeneral @asthmatic-trash-bastard @remusownsmyuwus @alexinthebathroomataparty @diadems-arewornon-capita @the-bethanista @yalltookmyurlideas @demigodbookdragon @theunknoen @theyluna-womoon

422 notes · View notes

masquerade-story · 3 years

Text

Chapter 4 - Memories

Lillian awoke late into the evening, after everyone collectively agreed to take a nap and process everything Crystal told them. Her throat was dry and scratchy, so she carefully rolled out of bed to avoid disturbing Grey, who'd crawled into her bed for comfort like he always did when he was upset, and padded quietly out of the bedroom.

Since there wasn't going to be any sort of heating bill, they'd left the mysteriously working heater on to combat the unexpectedly cold weather. Lillian stopped by a window to peek outside, and was momentarily startled when she could pick out individual leaves on distant trees.

"Right, our vision got all fancy." Lillian laughed softly at herself, turning her gaze from the trees to the starry sky.

An unfamiliar sky.

Three moons scattered across the horizon, a couple of planets close enough for their rings to be distinct to the naked eye, and a brilliant aurora ribbon streaming across more stars than Lillian ever remembered seeing when she looked up back on Earth.

"There's no North Star," she whispered to herself, her warm breath briefly melting some frost on the window glass. "Different constellations, different horoscopes... I wonder how long a year is here? Or a season? Can we... Even communicate with people to find out?"

An oppressive sense of loneliness settled in her chest. Lillian blinked back a few tears and turned away from the window, resuming her earlier mission of a glass of juice. She slipped downstairs into the kitchen, drank an entire glass, and went to bring her second cup upstairs in case she woke up again, when a soft sound caused her to pause mid-step toward the stairs.

Sobbing. Wretched, mournful sobbing, from the living room which currently had no light on.

Lillian felt her heart clench in sympathy, and changed route.

Rayne sat on the couch, curled into the corner with a blanket around her shoulders and a phone in her hands. She glanced up when Lillian approached, hurriedly dashing her tears with the corner of the blanket. "H-hey, what's up?"

Lillian had the sense to put her juice cup down on an end table before sitting heavily on the couch, encroaching on Rayne's personal space with reckless abandon. "I was gonna ask you the same thing. Why are you down here alone in the dark?"

"Oh, I..." Rayne muttered, her gaze flicking back to the phone. Lillian glanced down, and saw a photo of Rayne and her boyfriend trying on mouse hats during their trip to Disneyworld. His expression was exasperated, but his affectionate gaze was fixed on Rayne's laughing face.

Rayne locked her screen and set the phone down, but it was too late and she knew it. She retreated further into the warmth of her blanket, faking a shiver to cover the fact she was trying to hide her face.

Neither Rayne nor Crystal appreciated it when other people saw them cry, but Lillian knew that it was sometimes exactly what someone needed, whether they wanted it or not. So she leaned on Rayne's shoulder, resting a gentle hand on the other woman's knee.

"You know," Lillian said softly, closing her eyes. "There's three moons."

Rayne was quiet for a moment. Then she sniffled, before whispering: "Really?"

"Yeah. And some ringed planets, and an aurora. Wanna see?"

The bundle of blanket shook in a hesitant nod, and both Lillian and Rayne moved to sit on the window seat overlooking the front yard, keeping throw pillows between them and the frozen glass to seal in their bodily warmth.

Silence stretched on between them as they stared together at the foreign night sky. Whenever Rayne gave a soft cry or pained whimper, Lillian reached over to squeeze her hand without turning to look at her, giving the other woman a measure of privacy while still providing comfort until she was ready to talk.

"It's unfair," Rayne whispered finally, reaching out of the blanket to draw a frowning face on the frosty glass.

Lillian nodded. "It ate our bonds so they all forgot us, but we still have to remember them? It's totally unfair."

"Actually..." Rayne looked over, locking gazes with Lillian, her dark brow furrowed. "That's the thing. Lils, do you remember your parents?"

"Of course. Robin and Larry-"

"Their faces, Lils."

Lillian opened her mouth, then immediately shut it. Her curious expression turned to one of realization, then panic suffused with horror. "No, I... What...?"

"I don't remember his face if I'm not looking at the photo," Rayne said, crossing her arms tightly under the blanket. "I don't remember his voice anymore. I did at first, but... Every passing moment, it's harder to remember the times we shared. The bad, the good. Even while looking at the photos! And I just... I felt like I should have a good cry, while I still felt enough lingering emotion for him to do it."

Lillian felt as though her heart was caught in her throat. She swallowed, swallowed again, then wheezed as she tried to remember how to breathe. Rayne hurriedly wrapped her arms around Lillian's shoulder, squeezing tight in a hug that contained all her comfort and sympathy.

"We'll do everything we can to remember, them, okay?" Rayne whispered, her voice shaking with emotion. "Let's go wake Grey and Crystal, then we can all start writing stuff down. Alright?"

Nodding, Lillian clung desperately to Rayne's hand as they both hurried upstairs, rolling their respective siblings out of bed for an emergency meeting. Grey's horror was contrasted starkly by Crystal's numb nodding, as she apologized for not realizing it would happen. They dug into the boxes of personal belongings, finding some notebooks and pens, and sat together in the master bedrooms writing down everything they remembered about Earth and their loved ones until well into the next morning.

"On the one hand it's a mercy," Grey said sleepily, as he doodled another picture of his parents in the margins of his notebook. "So we won't be grieving our loss very long, I guess? But it still feels..."

"Wrong," Lillian mumbled, looking through her phone for a picture of her cat to use as a reference.

"It's not like the time was wasted," Rayne said, adding another bullet point to the list she was writing. "Our experiences shaped who we are whether we remember them or not. It does feel pretty crappy, though..."

"I wonder, will they forget us like this?" Lillian asked, unable to stop the words in her heart from escaping. Her hand paused above the page, the pen in her hand shaking violently. "Will they just... Slowly forget us? Or was it sudden and merciful? Because this... This is cruel."

"Cruelty implies intention," Crystal said softly, her voice shaking almost as much as Lillian's pen. "That... Thing. The Eater. It didn't have any malice, it was just hungry. But I dunno if that makes things better or worse..."

"I dunno man, you ever seen a cat catching prey? Pretty sure eating something alive has some inherent malice in it." Grey grumbled, trying to force his chicken scratch handwriting into something legible.

Crystal, who'd already given up on her own handwriting and embraced the chaotic glyphic nature of her lettering, nodded sagely in agreement. "That's true. I got the impression the Eater wasn't exactly sentient or sapient though. More like a force than a being, if that makes sense? Or maybe I just can't conceive of it, since that thing exists outside our dimensions of understanding."

"You say that so easily, do you even know how wild that whole statement was?"

"Do you even know how wild this whole situation is?"

"Look, we've passed absurdity at this point. Now I'm just down with whatever weirdness comes our way."

"We don't have to pay bills anymore," Rayne said slowly, staring at her paper. Her handwriting was the neatest by far, and she'd finished writing down most important events she could think of, but she kept having a nagging feeling she'd left something out so she kept reading the pages over and over hoping to trigger another memory. "We won't have to buy groceries unless there's things we want specifically that wasn't in our house to begin with. The electricity will never go out, damage to the property will be repaired, and even though we're in a new world with unknown levels of development and technology, we will never have to worry about toilet paper. In exchange for a very comfortable standard of living, we lost our connection to our home and families."

"Personally speaking I think it's fair," Crystal said with a scoff. "But that's because our family sucks so I'll be glad to forget them. All my most important people are here with me! I know Robin and Larry will take good care of all our cats, my exes all sucked, and my other friends will get along just fine without me. I don't have anyone to worry about, just regrets for stuff I never got to do. Like visiting the Grand Canyon, or going on a long cruise."

"I wanted to hike around Europe someday..." Rayne said wistfully.

"I wanted to vacation in the tropics. Or maybe Spain? For like, two years. With some hot guys and infinite fruity alcohols." Grey said, staring off into space with a dreamy look in his eyes.

"I wanted to be famous enough for us to visit the space station," Lillian sighed. Grey snorted, and everyone started laughing in a combination of absurdity and delirium from lack of sleep. They started listing everything they could think of, starting with shopping sprees and game show appearances, and ending with complex bank and casino heists to dismantle capitalism.

When Crystal started dozing off while sitting up, they all agreed to get some sleep for real. The notebooks were stacked lovingly on one of the end tables, which reminded Lillian to run downstairs and chug her long-forgotten cup of juice in the living room before trudging back upstairs into bed.

------

"We can't just stay in the house forever, right?" Grey muttered as he stared out the living room window later that night, curled up on the window seat with his knees hugged to his chest.

"Technically we could," Rayne said, drumming her fingers against the recliner arm as she waited for her laptop to boot. "Infinite food and basic supplies, stuff for our hobbies... We have our instruments, we have our computers and game consoles and several external drives worth of movies and books and music since you and Crystal obsessively insist on collecting or hoarding anything of interest for later use."

"Hey, hey." Grey wagged a finger and feigned an offended scowl. "Look at our situation. How bored would we be if the two of us didn't hoard everything? In fact, maybe our desire to hoard entertainment was preparing for this day!"

"Damn psychics always preparing for everything they couldn't possibly know about," Rayne muttered rebelliously, and Crystal laughed. She'd stretched out on half of the corner couch taking up an entire section of the living room by itself, looking cozy with a pile of blankets and her special edition Switch.

"It's only gonna get worse from here, Ray."

"Open your town, I need to sell my oranges," Lillian interrupted, nudging Crystal's feet from her spot on the other side of the corner couch.

"Alright, lemme finish making this waterfall first."

"Your villagers are never gonna have scurvy again for like, three generations."

"That many oranges? Isn't that a bit overkill?"

"If they don't want an entire island nation's agricultural sector's worth of citrus they should learn to adjust their economy for inflation."

"You know the shop is run by literal children, right?"

"It's good to learn early that nepotism leads to ruin. The business world is harsh and so am I."

Rayne chuckled at the sound of Lillian's low, malicious cackling, but her expression swiftly turned serious. "What do you mean it's gonna get worse, Coco?"

"All four of us have abilities for real, right? Being in this world is gonna make them grow exponentially, whether we try to train them or not. New ones will pop up too, or existing ones will change a little as they grow. Okay Lils, gate's open." Crystal spoke nonchalantly, but every word drained a bit more color from Rayne's face. Meanwhile, Grey turned away from the window with an excited glint in his eyes.

"So psychic powers can get real strong in this world?"

"Yeah. The impression I got when we were coming over was... Magic exists here, and it's something anyone can learn to use with practice. But abilities like ours, psychic powers? Those you have to be born with, and it's rare. That's about as much as I know about it though," Crystal sighed and shrugged.

"Can you list everything you know about our situation?" Rayne said, opening a new document on her computer and typing away with her nose inches from the laptop screen. "I wanna write it all down. I got the thing about our bonds and memories, and the house being indestructible-"

"It's not indestructible, just protected." Crystal seemed startled as soon as the words left her mouth, as though the information was somehow new. She furrowed her brow, nose wrinkling as she carefully examined her thought process. "I see, protected... Like a barrier, almost? It'll always rebuild itself and restock supplies overnight no matter what happens, even if it's all burnt to ash, but the property itself is also shielded unless we draw attention from a big threat."

"A big threat? Like what?"

"I don't know. Big animals like those Nessies on the beach yesterday. Or monsters like the Eater, maybe?"

"Monsters?!" Lillian sat up straight, pulling her feet under her body. "There's monsters!?"

"There's magic, why wouldn't there be monsters too?" Grey pointed out, but his twin just stuck her tongue out at him.

"It's just an assumption," Crystal hurriedly explained. "For my power to work, I'd have to come into contact with stuff related to what I want to know about in order to get more information, I can't just pull stuff out of the ether whenever I have questions!"

"Then how do you know what you know already?"

"Well, we were in contact with the house. The house is made with really powerful magic, so I learned magic exists, and that it was used to make the house echo and ensure our supplies remain the same. I think I also learned about the barrier then, but didn't think about it or really absorb the info cuz I was thinking about other things, so it only just popped up." Crystal shrugged and let out a half-hearted laugh.

"What about the Eater?"

"The Eater was menacing us directly and I looked at it so I was able to get some info on it and the bond-eating shenanigan, but not much else because it's way stronger than me, I think? And my power activated as soon as we started our... Transfer, I guess? Away from Earth. And you all were in the room with me, so I knew you all had powers as well as myself, got the basic gist of how mine work, and that we'd all get much stronger whether we wanted to or not. That's really about it for what I know. I told you it wasn't much."

"Why the house though?" Rayne muttered. "It just wanted to eat our bonds and it did that. So why did it drop us on another planet, and why give us this cushy house echo thing?"

Crystal shrugged again. "I honestly have no idea. I think I could know if I got a lot stronger, but... That won't be any time soon. I can tell there's a reason, though. I just dunno what."

"Maybe it's compensation?" Grey said, his expression hopeful.

"Or bait, like a beacon, so it can find us again..." Lillian whispered with a shiver, and everyone's faces fell. Seeing their reactions, she hurriedly straightened her spine and forced a smile to her face. "But it didn't hurt us, and we're all still together. Imagine if we'd been flung to different planets instead of staying together!"

"That'd really suck," Grey agreed. "So like, Crystal, your power activates if you come into contact with stuff?"

"I think so. I'd have to test it to get the hang of how things work, precisely."

Grey chuckled, a mischievous grin spreading across his face. His expression made the three women exchange worried glances, especially once he started rubbing his hands together like a two-bit cartoon villain. "Looks like we got ourselves an excuse to head to that town for some reconnaissance!"

"In the snow?" Rayne asked, raising her eyebrows.

"With only summer clothes in our wardrobes," Crystal pointed out.

"We wore hiking boots for the walk up here so that'd be fine, but the warmest clothes we have right now are..." Lillian trailed off, then suddenly doubled over and started giggling.

Realization dawned on the others soon after, and Rayne covered her face with her hands. "Oh no."

"Oh yes!" Grey hissed, pumping his fist into the air. "That'll make one heck of an entrance, wouldn't it?"

"Our music video costumes? In PUBLIC!?" Rayne wailed while the others laughed.

"That might not be what we want to do though," Crystal said after her moment of laughter had subsided. "We don't know what kind of world this is. If they'll be friendly to strangers, especially ones who can't speak their language - or any language on this world. They won't know English, you know."

"But do we really have a choice?" Lillian asked, putting down her console and staring up at the ceiling. "We don't know anything about this world. About magic, except that it exists. About the people. And hiding here in our safe cozy house will be fine short term, but what about long term? Are we gonna spend our whole lives holed up in here?"

"I, for one, embrace the forest witch hermit lifestyle," Grey said. "And I know Crystal does too."

"Sure do. Cottage life."

Rayne sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I don't wanna be caught completely off guard by whatever nonsense comes our way. We know it's winter, but we don't know what the other seasons are like yet. What if they have a raining magma and diamonds from the sky season? We can't apply Earth logic here! Or if we can, we don't know to what extent! There were dinosaurs on the beach!"

"That's a fair point. There were indeed dinosaurs on the beach. Counter points?"

"There were dinosaurs on the beach."

"A fair counter point as well. I do want to see the dinosaurs up close."

"From a safe distance."

"Up close from a safe distance, of course."

"Plus, we don't know what's gonna happen with our powers. You said they'll get stronger, what does that mean?"

"I don't know. More powers will manifest, I think? And the ones we have already will be more potent. But I don't know how potent, or what exactly will happen."

"Exactly! You psychically downloaded only a little info about our situation and it gave you a nasty seizure! Right?"

"Pretty much."

"So what if something worse happens? A big huge infodump? If you can't control your powers, or shut it off when needed or whatever, what if..." Rayne's shoulders sagged.

"What if I have a big seizure every time I use my powers now?" Crystal finished, a wry smile on her face. "Yeah, I was wondering about that too. Honestly, everything about our situation has me so terrified I've circled back around to just feeling numb about it all."

"That's a hell of a mood," Grey sighed, stretching out on the window seat and propping his feet up against the wall. "Everything's happening so much, am I right? It's hard to be freaked out about everything simultaneously. It's easier to just phase out of existence, mentally speaking."

"I... Have an idea."

Everyone turned to look at Lillian, who sat perched on the edge of the couch. She glanced at all their faces, then offered a shy smile.

"Well? What's your idea, sis?" Grey encouraged, when his sister kept fidgeting in place instead of finishing her thought.

"Well, those warmer clothes we have... They're our costumes, right? And Crystal said we dunno how people would react to that sort of outfit, or to strangers in general, but what if... I mean... We have our instruments? What if... We pretended to be minstrels?"

#writing #chapter #original #original story #masquerade #fantasy #isekai

1 note · View note

is0gild · 4 years

Text

Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Chapter 3

Pairing: Elsa x Lea/Axel || Side Pairing: Riku x OC

Summary: Modern AU. She's an introvert ball of nerves who works at Ice Palace, a mall food court ice cream shop. He's the outgoing, sassy goofball who works at the Pizza Planet across the way. Hilarity, snark, and fluffy romcom hijinks ensue.

Word Count: 5,841

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented ky-jane here on tumblr!

I’d done it.

I’d gotten a job.

My very first job.

And I was already regretting it big time.

But really, could you blame me? I’d had to interact with three, count them, three people so far. Would the torture never end? No, because it had only just begun! And those were just my boss and coworkers, I hadn’t even gotten to a customer yet. I was dreading that inevitable moment as it drew ever nearer with each passing second.

Oh, and did I mention the uniform? Because, dear lord, if I’d known this is what I’d be signing up for, I probably never would have applied in the first place. For starters, I had to wear a light blue fitted, long sleeved, off shoulder blouse which, granted, wasn’t that bad. But that was only the tip of the iceberg. It was paired with a black mini skirt that stopped a couple inches short of the knees. Can you believe it? A mini skirt. I didn’t see any of my male coworkers sporting booty shorts, no, they got to be fully covered up in white button ups, blue vests, and black slacks. Talk about sexist!

But a job was a job, and I had to start somewhere.

And that somewhere just so happened to be the Ice Palace - a small ice cream shop located in the food court of a local mall known as Dusk Town Center. The walls of the little parlor were decorated in a jagged, cerulean, semi-transparent plastic, simulating the whole frozen castle vibe. The mascot was Sven the Reindeer, which was actually sort of weird to me. I mean, I get it, reindeers are up where it’s cold and snowy all the time, but weren’t they really more of a Santa thing? I just couldn’t really picture them chilling in a frosty throne room, you know what I mean? But hey, I guess it just gave the marketing team an excuse to sell cute caribou plushies, which were everywhere - dangling from the ceiling, sitting atop the cash registers, filling boxes upon boxes in the back… basically anywhere there wasn’t ice cream, there was a stuffed, huggable, googly eyed little deer.

All in all, not exactly a dream job, but pickers can’t be choosers. Especially when the picker, aka me, had flunked out of twenty-some-odd interviews before finally landing this one. Don’t get me wrong, Rayne and Riku had been great teachers. The problem had been with the pupil. No matter how hard they tried to iron out all my nervous habits and anxiety-induced rambling, a few quirks had still managed to slip through. This had led to no small number of awkward moments and don’t-call-us-we’ll-call-yous. But at last I’d managed to keep it together long enough in one interview to trick someone into hiring the trainwreck that was me.

Just my luck it had to be the frigging food court ice cream place with the stupidly short skirts.

It was my first day on the job. The guy who was training me had left me alone after setting me up with a handful of orientation videos to watch and telling me to come get him when I was done. I was seated in one dark corner of this small room that was part storage space, part break area. Before me was a tiny TV atop a VCR that could only be from the Stone Age. Seriously, I didn’t even know such relics were still in circulation anymore. The videos were just about as dated and mind-numbing as you’d expect. They included one such gem as, now that I was a valued employee of Ice Palace, I wasn’t just a part of team but a family. It also felt the need to cover the obvious, things like don’t be rude, don’t handle the product without washing your hands first, don’t kiss, grope, or otherwise manhandle coworkers or customers, don’t go getting yourself locked in a freezer… you know, things I would never, ever do in the first place, not in a million years.

Suffice it to say, I was bored out of my skull.

That said, this was way better than having to talk to an actual human being. So it probably wasn’t hard to imagine my disappointment when the credits at last rolled on the final tape. Sighing, I rose from my chair and clicked off the ancient television set before turning to face the door across the room. My fellow employee that I needed to check in with now was somewhere on the other side of it.

Where the customers were.

Waiting.

Lurking.

I shuddered.

I then took the opportunity to fidget with my skirt, tugging at the hem a bit.

Note to self: use first paycheck to invest in some tights. This whole bare legs thing just was not working for me.

Ugh, why a mini skirt of all things?! I mean, come on, it was the Ice Palace, shouldn’t we be dressing more the part? I’m thinking Inuit attire, I’m talking fur-lined boots and layers upon layers of thick, fuzzy coats covering me from head to toe. But a skirt? It just wasn’t realistic! If I were in a real castle made entirely of frost, I’d be freezing my rear off right about now!

I then adjusted the black cap with a blue bill atop my head that sported our cursive logo, complete with a teeny doodle of a palace, before tightening my ponytail that stuck out the hole in the back. I’d opted for that over my usual braid. Figured it would make it harder for me to fiddle with my hair when I got anxious.

Unfortunately, I had now run out of trivial (but one hundred percent necessary) ways to procrastinate. Guess there was no putting it off any longer. I slowly approached the door, watching it grow more ominous with every step that brought me closer to it. Halting in front of it, I reached for the knob. But then I stopped, hesitating before retracting my hand and looking back over my shoulder towards a second door on the opposite wall, a green Exit sign glowing over it.

The door to freedom.

Perhaps it wasn’t too late for me to follow my dreams and become a hermit. I could always buy a fake beard. No one would ever know the difference.

My eyes darted back and forth between the two doors, my breath becoming shallow and my heartrate quickening. Then, biting down on my lower lip, I took a step towards that Exit sign and-

“There you are!”

I froze with a wince before turning my back on that tantalizing exit, instead facing my coworker who was now leaning in through the other door. He was tall with brown eyes and his head shaved bald beneath his own cap. A thin, black goatee wrapped around the friendly grin he was shooting my way as he now fully stepped into the room to join me, looking quite dapper in his vest and neatly ironed pants.

I chuckled nervously, clasping my hands behind my back. “Er, yeah… here I am.”

Drat. So close!

“Was wondering if you’d gotten lost, figuring as how you should’ve been long done with those videos by now.”

“Nope, was just… on my way, Lucius.”

“Ah ah!” he chided, waggling a finger in my face before gesturing to his work attire. “When I’m in the uniform, it’s Frozone.”

I blinked. “...Fro...zone?”

He nodded solemnly. “Yup. Because when I’m on the clock, I’m in the zone.” That last word was emphasized with a wide sweep of his outstretched hand before he tacked on dramatically, “The Frozen Zone.”

“...I see.”

He seemed to take great pride in his work.

I wondered if I would ever be that dedicated.

...or if I ever even really wanted to be that dedicated.

“So, um… Mr Frozone… what’s next?”

He jerked a thumb over his shoulder back towards the door he’d come in through. “Figured we could get you up front now, start familiarizing you with the space and equipment.”

“R-really? So soon?” My fingers twitched, reaching for my braid before remembering it wasn’t there. Instead I settled for crossing my arms. “You think I’m ready for that?”

Answer: A big fat no.

“Well, let’s see here.” He started ticking off fingers, “You’ve watched the videos, you’ve had the grand tour, you’ve-”

“No I haven’t!” I said quickly, shaking my head. “Had the grand tour, that is.”

“No? Well alright then.” He stepped past me and further into the room, then stopped and pivoted around to face me, spreading his arms out to either side of him. “Here it is, in all its glory. Just breathe in that majesty.”

This cramped break-slash-storage room was it, apparently. Besides the TV and VCR in one corner, most of it was filled with giant, industrial-grade fridges for housing all the ice cream. Plus a couple of large metal sinks, plus the aforementioned boxes upon boxes of reindeer plushies. Squeezed into one corner was a humble couch that’d seen better days, along with a small table with a couple rickety-looking chairs. A giant bulletin board hanging from one wall completed the look, covered in workplace guidelines, announcements, and different colored flyers.

“Oh.” I pursed my lips to one side. “Very, ah… very majestic.”

“Isn’t it just?” he nodded, hands on his hips as he smiled broadly. “Welp, that’s that. Now let’s get you up to the registers to continue your training.”

I hummed thoughtfully. “Maybe I should watch the videos one more time. Just to make sure, that… uh...”

Reason… reason… dear god, please, come up with a reason, any reason!

“...that I... didn’t... miss anything?”

He laughed. “You’re thorough and detail oriented. I like that.” He planted his hands on my shoulders and steered me towards the door of doom. “Feel free to rewatch those tapes on your own time, but for now, let’s move on.”

“But-”

He gave me a gentle but firm push and I stumbled through the door and straight into my own personal hell.

Alright, fine, maybe I was being a bit over dramatic. There weren’t even any customers in line at the moment. Seemed like it was just after the lunch rush and most of the people had already eaten and cleared out. There were just a couple families left dotting the tables out there in the otherwise empty food court beyond our countertop.

Swallowing my nerves and inhaling deeply to calm myself, I glanced around my more immediate area. I was a bit curious after all, seeing as how this was my first real time on this side of the cash register. But really? There wasn’t much to it. There was a giant frozen display proudly presenting a rainbow of different flavored ice cream. Beneath it behind the counter were some small metal doors that seemed to be some more refrigerated storage space. In one corner was this fancy looking ice cream machine, with stacks on stacks of empty cups and cones beside it. There were some large menus overhead on the back wall and beneath them, a snowman crudely painted onto the door that I had just been so unceremoniously shoved through. Then of course, those plastic “ice” walls and reindeer dolls overflowing from every crook and cranny that they could conceivably be crammed into.

That about summed it up. That, plus the burly blonde guy manning one of the registers that would be my second coworker.

He turned his head, giving me a look that admittedly wasn’t quite a scowl, but wasn’t exactly warm and inviting either.

I gulped and unconsciously took a step back, immediately bumping into something. Looking over my shoulder, that something turned out to be a someone: Lu… erm, I mean, Frozone.

Hand on my shoulder once more, he guided me forward and I took a few reluctant steps closer to the other man. “Elsa, you remember Kristoff from earlier, right?”

I gave a weak nod and raised my hand in a tiny wave. “H-hi again.”

He only continued to fix me with a dull stare.

“Oh yeah, you two are going to be fast friends, I can already tell,” Frozone beamed. “Now Kristoff here is going to be taking over your training and showing you the ropes up here. There’s a new shipment in back that I should get to sorting out, but just give a holler if you need me.”

“Wait!” I snatched at his sleeve as he turned to leave through the back door. My eyes darted from him to Kristoff and back before I whispered, “Do you really have to go?”

I had actually been growing comfortable around him. He seemed nice.

This Kristoff guy on the other hand seemed, erm… how should I put this… shall we say, grumpy?

Frozone chuckled, tugging himself free of my grasp and patting me on the head. “I’m flattered, girl, but I’m a taken man. Honey is the light of my life and trust me, you do not want to get on that woman’s bad side.”

“Wha-?” I blinked a couple times. “No, that’s not what I-”

Annnnnnd there he went, calling a cheerful, “Have fun, you two!” over his shoulder as he disappeared into the back.

Sighing, I turned to face Kristoff and was greeted once more by that same deadpan expression.

Oh yeah. So much fun.

Taking a cautious step towards him, I cleared my throat and rubbed my left elbow. “So… that Frozone… really seems to take his job seriously, huh?”

“...don’t even get me started,” he said flatly.

So he speaks.

Barely.

I tried again. “What do I call you? Kristoff okay? Or just Kris? ...Kristo?” I was met with total silence. “...Oh, maybe that’s already short for something, like… Kristopher? Kristofel? Kris...toforos?” Mayday! Mayday! I was beginning to enter nervous babbling territory. Send help. “Or perhaps, oh! Do we all get theme names? Like Frozone? What would yours be? Are you the, uh… hmm, the, um… the Iceman?”

Face unchanged and dead serious, he said at last, “Oh yeah. That’s me. The Iceman. I love ice. Ice is my life. I eat, drink, and breathe nothing but ice. At night, I go to my ice house, eat my ice dinner, tuck myself into my ice bed, and cuddle with a bag of ice like it’s a teddy bear.”

“...really?”

If possible, his eyelids drooped even further. “No.”

“Oh.”

I knew that.

He heaved a soft, grumbling huff. “Kristoff is fine. Let’s go, new girl.”

He left his station behind the cash register to walk over to the display housing the frozen tubs, slapping a hand down on top of the chilly glass. “Ice cream,” he explained dryly. He then bent down to open one of the metal doors below, pulling out what appeared to be a plastic wrapped, solid bar of sugary sweetness on a stick. “More ice cream.” He tossed it back in with the rest just like it, kicking the door shut. He then picked up a rounded, steel utensil. “Ice cream scoop. You know how to use one, right?”

“Ah,” I brightened. “Yes, of course!”

“Congratz, you’re at least as competent as a four-year-old.”

Hey now, rude.

Returning the scoop to where he’d found it, Kristoff then walked over to the giant machine in the corner. As I approached it as well, I began to appreciate just how much of a monster this thing truly was with all its buttons, switches, levers, and tubes on it. It was actually kind of intimidating. What on earth could they all even possibly do?

“Combo soft serve/milkshake machine,” Kristoff continued on in his bored monotone as he planted an elbow atop the thing, leaning against it. He pointed at a big lever on the left over one tube. “Ice cream.” Next at another big lever, this one on the right over a second tube with some sort of gizmo sticking out of it. “Milkshakes.” His index finger shifted down to three large buttons running down the bottom right corner in front, first indicating the top one. “Turns it on and off.” Then the bottom button. “Flavor swapper.”

“And this one?” My fingers drifted towards the middle button.

“No touchy,” he lightly swatted my hand away. “That one makes it angry. And trust me, you won’t like it when it’s angry.”

I tipped my head to one side. “...why would there even be a button like that?”

He shrugged, intoning airily, “No one knows.”

I quirked an eyebrow at him, then shook my head, my gaze returning to that monstrosity of a machine. “What about all those other levers and switches on the side?”

“Woah, slow down, newbie. You gotta learn to crawl before you can walk. For now, just stick to the basics. Ice cream. Shakes. Off and on. Flavor,” he pointed to each one in turn again as he listed them off before giving me yet another dull look. “Am I going too fast for you? Maybe you should be writing this down.”

It was my turn for some eyelid droopage. “I think I got it.”

“Good. You’re ready for your first customer then. And as luck would have it,” he pointed past me, “here he comes.”

“What?!” I spun around on my heel. Some guy had just entered the food court on the opposite end from the Ice Palace, but was making a beeline straight for us.

Panic mode initiated. Hands? Clammy. Face? Blanched. Heart? Pounding. All systems a go.

“Relax, new girl.” Kristoff slapped me on the back, forcing a tiny oof out of me. “I know this dude, we all do around this place. He and his girlfriend are mallrats that’ll spend hours here, visiting all the stores and making friends with everyone. You should have no problem. Total training wheels.”

His words did nothing to ease my growing nerves and I must have been doing a terrible job of hiding it because he snorted, “You’ll be fine. Just step up to the register.” He waved a hand towards it.

I swallowed hard, then numbly walked over to it.

“Smile,” he pointed to his own grin that he now had plastered on for show, looking remarkably strange on a man I had seen zero emotion from all day. I forced my own smile and he flinched. “Ehh, maybe not so much.” I toned it down a bit. “Better. Now just say, ‘Welcome to Ice Palace, how may I take your order?’ and the rest should be a no brainer.”

Easy for you to say, buddy.

Taking a small shaky breath, I looked away from him and towards the customer once more just as he closed in on the counter. He had bright blue eyes, brown spiky hair, and a huge grin that just about literally split his face in two.

Okay, Elsa, you can do this.

“Welcome to Ice Palace, how…”

Oh fudge, I’d already forgotten the line! My mind was drawing a complete blank. The blankest of blanks.

“...uh…”

Panic, panic, panic!

“...how… you… order?”

Hi, yes, one stammering idiot at your service.

I heard the smack of Kristoff’s facepalm before he whispered under his breath, “Eh, close enough.”

Seemingly unfazed by my mental malfunction, the guy just continued to flash those pearly whites. “Hey there, could I get two bars of the Paopu Paradise ice cream please?”

“Ah… y-yes, right away!” I darted over to the frozen display case, picking up one of the scoops and reaching for the sliding glass door in back. However, I froze when I heard a throat clearing and turned to see Kristoff jerking a thumb towards the freezer space below.

...oh right, bars. He’d said he’d wanted bars of ice cream. Fumbling to put the scoop back, I bent down to open the cold door, located the stack labeled “Paopu Paradise” and snatched two off the top before straightening back up and thrusting them proudly over the counter into the customer’s face.

Another throat clear.

I glanced at Kristoff again, who mouthed the word ‘munny’ at me.

...minor detail.

“Er, yes… that’ll be, uh…” I stared down at one of the plastic-sheathed ice creams, spinning it around by the stick, as if looking for the price tag.

Kristoff groaned before tiredly commanding, “Cash register.” I hastily moved to stand in front of it once more. He pointed to one of the keys. “Push that one.” Done. “Now that one and that one.” Done and done. A munny total appeared on the register’s little black screen and he gestured for me to go on. I read off the amount and the customer, still sunny faced as ever, handed me the munny. To my credit, I only flinched slightly when the cash drawer noisily popped open, allowing the munny to be deposited.

After slamming it back shut, I looked to Kristoff again, worrying my bottom lip between my teeth. “Now?”

He closed his eyes and gave me a solemn nod.

Feeling my muscles relax slightly, I turned back to the customer, offering him his two ice creams once again.

“Thanks!” he chirped, taking them both in one hand and ripping the plastic off one before immediately chomping down hard into the frozen treat, making me wince.

Jeez, this guy must have had the teeth of a viking!

After swallowing the bite, he licked his lips and eyed me curiously. “You’re new, right?”

“Gee, how did you ever guess?” Kristoff deadpanned. I merely turned my head to narrow my eyes up at him.

Ignoring the comment from the peanut gallery, the guy offered his free hand to me. “You’ll probably be seeing me around a lot, so figure I should introduce myself. I’m Sora! Nice to meetcha!”

I hesitated before taking his hand gingerly and shaking it. “...Elsa. A pleasure.”

He froze mid-lick of his ice cream bar, blinking at me. “Elsa?” Lowering his snack a little now, he cocked his head. “Hey, you just moved in with Riku and Ray, didn’t you?”

My head rocked back at that. “How did you-?”

“Stalker,” Kristoff stretched the word out in a low singsong.

Sora’s eyes widened. “Wha? No, no, I know Riku! He’s my cousin and my best bud! He’d mentioned renting out their spare room to an old gal pal of Ray’s and that you were going through a bit of a rough patch, that’s all!” That blinding grin was slowly returning. “Hey, if there’s any way I can help out too, just let me know!”

“Oh.” My brow furrowed. “Uh… thanks…”

...you complete and total stranger.

“Don’t mention it! We’re friends now!”

Ah. My mistake. We were friends.

Apparently.

“Anyway, gotta run,” he waggled the second unopened bar slightly, “Kairi’s waiting for me and she’ll murder me if I let this melt! See ya around!” He waved good-bye to us over his shoulder as he walked off, happily slurping away at his own ice cream. I found myself absently returning the wave, one corner of my lips twitching up.

That guy? Bit of an oddball. But he seemed sweet.

“Not bad, newbie,” I heard Kristoff say as he poked the bill of my Ice Palace cap down, making it cover my eyes.

“Really?” I asked, righting my hat and looking up at him. Surprise of surprises, he was actually smiling.

...okay, it wasn’t so much a smile as it was a faint tightening of the mouth. But hey, I’ll take it.

“Not great, either,” he shrugged. “Not even remotely. But it’s a start. You’ll get better at it as you go. Now let’s cover-”

“Yo, Kristoff!”

Recognizing Frozone’s voice, we turned to see him poking a head out the door to the back. “Could you give me a quick hand with moving a particularly heavy box?”

“Sure thing, be there in just a sec,” Kristoff called. Frozone (gah, it will never not be weird calling him that) nodded before disappearing once more.

My insides shriveled somewhat. “You’re leaving me by myself up here?”

He gave my arm a light, reassuring pat. “I’ll be real quick, promise. It’s dead right now, so you probably won’t even have to deal with a single customer before I get back. If you do, don’t worry, you’re a natural. Just take their order, easy-peasy. And if you need help, tell the customer to wait a moment and come get me.”

I once again was reaching for my braid. It once again was not there. “What if they don’t want to wait a moment?”

“Just tell ‘em we’re out of whatever flavor they want and say ‘Let me see if we have any more in the back.’ Got it?”

“I guess so…”

“Good! Be back before you know it.” He jogged off and out the door, but a second later, he was leaning back through it again. “Remember, you say…” he twirled a finger sideways, prompting me.

“...let me see if we have any more in the back?” I ventured in a tiny voice.

He gave me a thumbs up. “Perfect.” Then he was gone again.

I moved to stand at the counter once more, inhaling and exhaling slowly. “Let me see if we have any more in the back,” I repeated, muttering it softly to myself as I eyed the food court warily.

He was right though, it was basically a ghost town out there. Everyone had already eaten for lunch and had all probably packed themselves back into the various stores by now. Plus it was a weekday. Thank goodness my first day hadn’t been on the weekend, I most certainly was not ready for the stampede of shoppers that would have come with that! As it was right now, there were only a few folks out there milling around for an afternoon snack and luckily none of them seemed to be craving ice cream. So I could maybe relax… at least for the moment.

Today… actually wasn’t going too bad so far. The job itself didn’t seem all that terrible. I was getting along with my coworkers, even that Kristoff fellow. He’d acted all tough at first, but seemed actually somewhat friendly underneath that cool exterior. I’d even helped my first customer! And with minimal mistakes, no less!

Maybe… maybe I could actually do this!

Okay sure, was I still a bit of a tangled ball of anxiety inside? Yes. Would I continue to be with each new customer? Oh, without a doubt. But with time, maybe, hopefully, it would lessen? At least somewhat?

A girl could dream anyway.

Regardless, I was doing it. The whole independence thing. Taking control of my life. I still had a long way to go, but this little ice cream job was the first small step. If I could do this, then maybe, just maybe there wasn’t much I couldn’t do. It wouldn’t be easy, and there was still a lot more for me to figure out. Like, a lot more. But I could and would. I just needed to believe in myself.

Feeling just a bit more on the chipper side now - an emotion that I hadn’t truly felt in a long time - I glanced around the food court again, really taking it all in this time, especially the other brightly colored restaurants that formed our neighbors.

There was The Big Olive, which served greek food. Currently a woman with heavy lavender eyeshadow and thick brown hair tied back into a long ponytail with curly fringe stood behind the register, idly flipping through a magazine. Then there was a chinese place called Mushu’s Kingdom with a cute little red dragon at the tail end of the logo. Next, there was Beast Burgers. I’d thought Kristoff cranky, but the big, hairy guy working there at the moment made Kristoff look like a cuddly puppy. Right beside that was a Cajun/Creole-style restaurant called Frog Legs, followed by a place called Sugar Rush, which looked like it served mostly pastries and any other sweet that wasn’t ice cream. Judging by the several large signs they had up, they seemed particularly proud of their cinnamon buns, which looked to be more frosting than bread.

Then there was a Lucky Cat Café, which was basically a coffee empire that had a shop located practically on every last street corner in the universe. I recalled that’s where Riku had purchased my mocha from the day I had officially moved in with Rayne and him. He’d probably bought it from this exact one that I was looking at right now. The mall was only a couple short blocks away from our apartment after all, which made it extra convenient that I’d managed to get the job here.

At that moment, I could see a woman with shoulder-length blue hair working the register while her coworker, a younger guy with short, messy blonde hair, blended a frothy drink nearby. They both were wearing green visors with felt feline ears sticking out the top. The blonde gave the grey cat with stripes perched atop their muffin display counter a quick pat on the head as he passed it by to reach the awaiting customer. It was only when I saw the creature’s tail twitch that I realized that was an actual living, breathing cat. Huh. A pet? Kept in the food court? How odd. It must have been very well trained. Probably just napped in that single spot all day, every day.

Last but not least, directly across the way from the Ice Palace was a Pizza Planet, its green logo sporting a giant, round pizza pie with a Saturn-like ring wrapped around it. It tied neck-and-neck with our ice cream parlour for most over the top decorations. The interior was designed to look like the inside of a UFO and was littered with toy rocket ships and little green alien squeeze-dolls everywhere. Stationed at the cash register was a girl with short raven hair, clapping and cheering her coworker on.

Said coworker was a tall, lanky guy who, like his fellow employee, was decked out in a dark grey polo with red trimmed sleeves and collar, accompanied by a pair of black fingerless gloves and khakis underneath his black, snuggly-tied full-body apron. His long, wild crimson hair trailed down past the nape of his neck and spilled out in spikes over his open-topped red visor. He was grinning cockily as he spun not one, but two massive discs of pizza dough, one on each index finger.

He tossed one up high into the air before catching it and starting it spinning on his fingertip again. Then he was using some sort of wizardry to send the dough half rolling, half flying across his shoulders as he swapped the other disc to his left hand, freeing up his right to catch the first saucer of dough just in time and keep it whirling, much to his coworker’s delight.

It was as he was giving one of the circular slabs of dough another toss up that he seemed to realize he’d gained a second audience member. His eyes shifted to meet mine and then widened as his whole body locked up. The disc still balanced on his finger spun off and toppled to the ground.

As for its airborne twin?

Splat!

Right on top of his head, covering his whole face.

A very unladylike snort escaped me, followed by a burst of long and uncontrollable laughter that I tried to smother behind my fingers. I was still laughing when he lifted the dough enough to peek one eye at me, expression unreadable as he slowly raised his other hand in a small twitch of a wave.

My giggling, along with my heart, abruptly stopped as I gasped, paled, squeaked and ducked down behind the counter.

...I’d laughed at him.

Oh my god, I can’t believe I’d laughed at him!

Heart thudding in my ears now, I stayed in a low crouch in my hiding spot, trembling hands gripping the edge of the countertop above me as my tongue dried to literal sandpaper.

Had he heard me laughing? Had he seen me laughing? What am I saying, of course he saw! That’s why he’d waved!

Oh dear lord, what did the wave mean? Was it an angry wave? An ‘I see you laughing at me, jerkface’ wave? A ‘How dare you mock me thusly’ wave? A ‘You have besmirched my honor, villain, now we must duel to the death’ wave? No, no, no, I didn’t know how to duel! What kind of duel would it even be? Pistols at dawn? I knew nothing about using a frigging pistol! Or any gun for that matter! I was dead! I was toast! I was-

Wait! No! Stop! Get a hold of yourself, woman! Gah, calm down and stop letting your imagination run wild with completely ridiculous notions!

I screwed my eyes shut, breathing in deep through my nose and holding it as I counted to ten before releasing.

It had probably just been a normal wave. A ‘Hello there, yes, I’m a dork who drops pizza dough on my head’ wave. He probably wasn’t mad, nor did he want to seek vengeance in blood. He was probably now just standing there, confused by the crazy weirdo who’d dived for cover behind her counter like she was in a war zone under enemy fire.

Alright. Time to pull myself back up. This was salvageable. Just stand and… I don’t know… wave back? Yeah, that sounded like a plan. Okay, you got this.

My legs tensed as I prepared to stand once more. In three… two…

What’d I’d failed to consider, as I’d be learning in two frightfully short seconds, was that there was another possibility. Another string of events that could have and, in fact, were set in motion the moment I’d dropped into hiding. That instead of just staying behind his own counter, the redhead had gotten curious about my odd reaction and had decided to take it upon himself to investigate. Therefore, he’d announced to his coworker that he was taking his ten, allowing him to leave his little pizzeria and cross the food court on a course heading straight for the ice cream shop directly across the way.

I have to wonder… and I mean really, really wonder… what were the odds?

The odds that he’d stop in front of the counter right across from where I was concealed.

The odds that he’d be leaning over it to look down at me exactly as I was springing back up to stand.

The odds that his lips were positioned just perfectly for my own to come crashing into his as I looked up.

That’s right.

I’d frigging kissed him.

...Hey, universe? It’s me, Elsa. If you’re listening, now would be a really great time for me to spontaneously develop the ability to rewind time by, say, I don’t know… thirty seconds so I can make completely different life choices.

...No? Not happening?

Well fudge.

Author's note: BEHOLD! There, at long last, having traded his spinning chakrams in for spinning pizzas, is our favorite Fire Boy! Or rather… there his lips are anyway… hehehe… xD Trust me, the fun is only beginning, you're in for one rollercoaster of a ride with this story!

So here we finally get the main setting for a majority of this story - what is basically the universe of KH transformed into a mall xP So many stupid little references will abound in the chapters to come, I'm sure you'll get sick of it! And I know Frozone/Incredibles isn't in KH, but that is a travesty which I had to correct by including him in this fic! I mean, c'mon, he's perfect for working at an ice cream shop alongside Elsa! As for Kristoff, I know he's normally a big ol' softie, but don't forget he had his whole tough guy routine when he first met Anna at the beginning of the movie! And as you can see, he's already starting to warm up to Elsa. And all the food court restaurants and faces (yes, even the cat) this chapter were KH/Disney references, some might be more obvious than others tho… but if any were too vague, Elsa will get to meet a lot of them in the chapters ahead so that should clear 'em all up! Oh, and ice cream flavor names! I'm not gonna miss an opportunity to steal all those ice creams from BBS, but come on, this was Sora, so OF COURSE I had to make up something that was Paopu flavored for him! I imagine the description of the Paopu Paradise flavor on the menu is something like: "Made with real Paopu fruit straight from Destiny Islands with little star sprinkles swirled in! Legend has it if two people share this ice cream, their destinies become intertwined."

In any case, on to the more pressing question… how will our lil ball of nerves Ice Queen handle this mortifying "greeting" with her new redheaded friend that she has yet to even learn the name of? Hope you stay tuned to find out in the next chapter! Thank you so much for reading!

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

5 notes · View notes

thegoldenembers · 5 years

Text

The Great Gubal Library || Part Two

Eanrin Farthestshore cried out in agony as the explosion slid him back a few feet as well. Purely defensively, his aetherial alignment shifted to white, riding the wave. He gasped as the echoes of cries and screams died away and all that was left was silence. He wasn't sure even how long he laid there till he opened his eyes. He opened his eyes, didn't he? His stomach leapt into his throat and fell rapidly all the way back down as the realization hit him. The wave of panic was slightly curtailed by the horrible pain in his gut his panic caused. He couldn't see. He couldn't see!! In sheer terror, he cried out.

'Eanrin.'

The voice waved across his mind, full of sorrow and compassion. "Aethelbald, I messed up." Eanrin wailed into the floor. The dragon quietly took stock of Eanrin's condition.

'Stay still, son. Don't move. I'm on my way.'

Eanrin's panic levels were still way too high and he wasn't sure why he hadn't fainted yet. 'Rayn... she's hurt... I can't see her, I can't... I can't find her.'

He cried out. Quietly he whimpered, "Rayn? Please, answer me, miss." He couldn't calm down. Couldn't think. Aethelbald quietly commanded.

'Stay still. You'll only make the arrow dig in deeper. Lie still and listen. Can you hear breathing?'

Eanrin closed his eyes tightly. He was too busy panicking and hating himself to listen. In his mind's eye, the young dragon was sitting next to him again, just like when they first met.

'There is always hope. Stay calm. Don't start hating yourself again. You have worth, Eanrin.'

'But I didn't stop any of this. Rayn's hurt, Lanelle wouldn't listen, and I couldn't stop the curse.'

He laid quietly. Mortal Aethel sat down next to him, helping him to sit as well in his mindscape. They'd spent many an hour like this, just sitting quiet. After a while, the dragon looked at Eanrin again.

'Do you hear breathing?'

Eanrin quieted himself. Relief washed over him as he registered the sounds of quiet breathing. 'It's not safe here. I can't protect them. Come soon.' Eanrin sobbed. The dragon nodded, putting his hand on Eanrin's shoulder as he stood.

'I will.'

He faded and Eanrin was left lying quietly in the silence.

A groan escaped Lanelle's lips as her eyes fluttered open. Each time she tried to open her eyes, it was if she was squinting in the sunlight until finally her eyes finally made out the familiar surroundings of the Gubal Library. It could have been hours since the clash of aether subsided. How long had it been exactly..? Lanelle let out a pained gasp as she tried to sit up. Her mind felt light, even with her heart feeling heavy. Her vision was split between seeing what was really around her, to seeing what she could finally acknowledge as her parents. They smiled, they cried, they laughed and played with her. They'd wrap her in a warm embrace.. She would sit on her father's lap as her scribbled away in a leather-bound journal his most recent findings in his research, and Lanelle would copy him as best she could, doodling runes and glyphs of higher skilled spells that were well beyond her age level. She would beam as the glyphs responded to her and gave off brilliant lighting. Lanelle could hear her father's laugh of approval and squeeze her tight. Her mother would teach her to use those same glyphs to heal an injured sheep by tracing the ink from the page. All the while, white aether was about them. She could see her parents working diligently to find formulas and test expelling darkness. Her vision saw of her parents each taking their turns hugging and kissing their girl sweet dreams, until finally, their scared eyes locking with hers as they sent a blast of aether toward a voidsent with piercing red eyes. Suddenly, she was back. Lanelle couldn't move. Not because she couldn't, but because she didn't want to. Instead, she curled up tighter as she could feel those red piercing eyes burning deep within the back of her mind, until finally she began choking back small sobs.

Eanrin Farthestshore's ears twitched at the sudden sounds of life. He'd been laying still, floating in and out of sleep and not really able to tell. Alone with his own thoughts for so long. Pausing a moment, he registered that the voice did not belong to Rayn. Lanelle then? Or some kind of horrible weepy monster. He paused to listen further. Yes, it was Lanelle. She was still alive! Something that both relieved him and made him extremely anxious. He knew she wasn't beyond hurting someone when they were down. And he was really down and out. He was afraid to bring attention to the fact that he was still alive. All this ran through his head in a matter of moments. Then his mind registered the second fact. The girl was crying. He opened his mouth to speak and nothing came out. He coughed. That was a huge mistake. Gasping, he still managed a quiet, "Lanelle?"

Lanelle Lumiea curled into herself tighter at the sound of her name, and her blurry eyes looked for just a moment in the direction of the voice. She was so scared to hear anyone's voice in this moment... But she saw the bard laying unnaturally still on the ground, and a small pool of blood beneath him. To this, she buried her head in her knees, and the dust riddling her dress wormed its way into her eyes, making her tears more painful. Between her sobs and gasps for air, she could hardly move her mouth well enough to spew out properly what she was about to cry. "I-I'm.. I'm sorry..."

Eanrin Farthestshore stared quietly at nothing. Did he really hear those words? Or was he hallucinating? He grimaced and slowly moved his left hand to rub the bridge of his nose. "I really must be out of it. Did you say 'sorry?'" Eanrin asked quietly. His voice was flat. He really could hardly get the words out, let alone add emotion to anything he said out loud at the moment.

Lanelle Lumiea shook her head with slight annoyance at having to repeat herself. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry!" Her voice got louder until finally she shouted it, and leaned forward just enough to push the open books away from her and across the floor. Their red glow faded as they went further out of distance, and she returned back to clinging to her knees, her face buried. "I'm sorry..." She was defeated.

"I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have yelled at you. Or slammed you up against a wall." He managed between small gasps. He turned his head towards her and tried to guess approximately where she was. With his luck he was probably looking five feet off to her left. "Are you okay?"

"No.." Lanelle admitted softly, and her tears kept falling, even if her sobbing quieted. "I.. my parents... they.. was it really me...? I've done.. so much..." Processing everything that she had done with this newfound guilt was harder than actually speaking in between her crying. Maybe even speaking in general. "What have I done...?"

"Lanelle, love, do calm down." He took a couple more short breaths. "We don't want to attract the attention of anything unsavory." A couple more tiny breaths and he added. "But more importantly, that voidsent has messed with your mind." He held up his index finger, not even sure she was looking at him. "Don't believe anything you're seeing at face value." He finally managed before falling quiet again, out of breath.

Lanelle Lumiea took a couple of panicked breaths before raising her head to look at the man as he struggled to speak. "Oh gods..." She whimpered and crawled over to the man. 'He can't see...' She thought and instantly her hands shook as the hovered over the arrow still stuck deep within him. "What have I done..?" She sobbed, and her hands trembled more, but she brought them up to her mouth to try and both compose herself and silence herself. Lanelle's eyes trailed behind the man and saw the female Miqo'te's body cast away to the other side of the library. "What have I done..?!" She cried out again and exhaled sharply, the tears just pouring down. Her heart ached as the guilt grew, and the runes across her body seemed to flicker as her emotions raised.

Eanrin Farthestshore 's eyes widened, and his face softened. "Oh Lanelle." He said quietly. "The guilt piles on fast, doesn't it? Listen." He whispered. "First. I highly doubt you did anything to your parents." He'd totally lost track of where she was, so he listened for her sobbing and tried to turn his head accordingly. "Second. You can take my sight, or lack thereof, off your shoulders. That was all me." He closed his eyes in a pained and frightened expression. "Are you okay, though? Are you hurt at all?"

Lanelle Lumiea continued to panic as her eyes darted between the girl, to the arrow and then finally settled on Eanrin's eyes. They were worried... and scared. Seeing that brought a sense of reality back to her, and the markings on her arms died down as her breathing went back to a slow steady pace. "I-I.. I'm not.. not sure..." She muttered, sinking down a little bit, her eyes falling back to the arrow. There was blood still slowly draining from him, and it paled her to see it. "I-I..." Lanelle continued to stutter, but her hands stopped shaking just enough for her hand to wearily touch the opening of the wound in his abdomen. "You're hurt..." She whispered. "I did this..." Her voice broke a little, and she swallowed back another wave of sobbing.

Eanrin Farthestshore hissed in pain. "It was self defense." His eyes closed tightly in self-recrimination. "It's my fault. I was stupid. I deserve this. Every ounce of it." His mouth twisted to the side. "I'm just glad you're okay. That was a lot of white aether." After a couple more shallow breaths, he asked, "What's the status of your friend Friend if I may ask?"

Lanelle Lumiea would sink into the ground if she could. "I can't hear him right now... b-but.." She gulped. "I can.. see his eyes... they won't stop staring at me..." She shuddered and seemed to fold into herself. Her fingertips were smudged with his blood, and Lanelle couldn't take her eyes from it. But a thought came to her. "Here.." She said, and crawled over to the vial of ink she spilled over. Bringing herself back over to the Miqo’te, she let whatever remnants of the ink spill out over her hand. "This.. might hurt a little.." She warned, and grabbed hold of the arrow still lodged in him, letting the ink seep through the arrow into his wound. As it mixed with the blood, she took her free hand and began writing small runes onto the dirty marbled floor, similarly to how she did in her memory with her mother. Remembering her mother's finishing touch, she snapped her finger, and the ink ignited with a green hue, acting as temporary cauterizer. Lanelle winced, and couldn't help but look back over to the blonde across the room.

Eanrin Farthestshore yelped a bit. Every fiber of his being was screaming in fear and alarm, demanding he fend her away but he suppressed them all. Feeling like he would jolt in all directions from sheer nerves, his voice only jittered a little. "Lanelle, is Rayn okay?" It was his biggest fear. He couldn't hear as well with both of them moving around and talking.

Lanelle Lumiea slid away from the man and rubbed the bloody mixture on the skirt of her robe. 'That must be her...' She thought and looked over to the girl again. Honestly? She was terrified to even think of approaching that body. She laid there like the others had back in Ishgard... 'What if she isn't..?' She asked herself in her mind and slowly scooted back away from the man. She couldn't answer him.

Eanrin Farthestshore bit his lip at her silence. He simply closed his eyes and resumed listening. In the semi quiet he told himself he could almost hear her. He hoped. "What are you going to do now?" He asked the air. He knew she hadn't left, but he knew if she didn't care to answer anything else, she wouldn't. But he couldn't stand the quiet, he had to try.

It was if every question he asked was one to try and break her. And yet, she actually knew that he wasn't asking out of malice. "I don't know.." She whispered in shame. What was there for her to do now..? Even without Friend's voice constantly in her mind, she knew he was still there.. somewhere... was there ever any escape? "W-What could I do..? I can't go back." Go back where? Lanelle was stumped. She had no clue. Always, always she had a plan because Friend told her what to do. What she needed to do, how she needed to grow stronger, and... grow darker... All these realizations, and the guilt on top of it all... "What can I do..?" She asked no one.

Eanrin Farthestshore looked sadly in Lanelle's general direction. "I know it's not much. But I'll help in any way I can." He wanted to offer her a home but his mind went immediately to Friend. Then it went to Rayn. She'd insist regardless. "You're welcome to stay with us." He paused a moment to catch his breath. "And listen. We found a journal back at your place in Limsa. Zui broke the ward. It belongs to your parents. Maybe it could help you?" He started as he heard something flop off the stair rails but it was small. And it was struggling. Before he knew it, a weird mixture of feathers and paper was pressing against his face. "Welcome back." He managed softly. "You've seen better days..." he quietly bid the bird to head to his hand. It scrambled awkwardly over and pressed its head to his hand. Eanrin summoned up a bit more magic and gave it to the bird. "Lanelle, is the paper gone?"

Lanelle Lumiea blanked out. 'He can't be serious...' She thought, considering everything that happened leading up this this moment. 'How could he even want me around him...?' She shook her head in response and sighed with frustration. "I'm so confused..." She breathed and put her hands to her face.

Eanrin Farthestshore tilted his head to the side and cupped the stabilized bird in his hand. He held it as tight as he dared, pulling comfort from it. "I'll repeat what I said before everything went south like it usually does every time we have a conversation. We care about you. I can't stand the thought of you so messed up by that voidsent. All I ever wanted to do was help."

The guilt just seemed to keep piling on. "What do I do...?" She seemed to loop back to how she was when she originally woke. Gosh she felt weak, as if this building's weight and all the books in it were heavy on her body. And yet, she almost wished the library would collapse in on her... but... "My.. my parents' journal..?" She remembered it. She remembered the night he put the ward on the book. "He did it because he said it could be used for the wrong purposes..." Lanelle shuddered. "I can't go.. I can't go near that journal.." She crossed her arms tightly and shook her head, looking away.

Eanrin Farthestshore frowned. What more could he say? "There's always hope." He whispered quietly. "Lanelle, you have to believe that. I have to all the time. Do you want him gone? Do you want to defeat Friend?" He closed his eyes. He felt drained. But he was desperate to help.

Lanelle Lumiea released a shaky sigh. She wasn't sure what to believe anymore... "I.. I want him gone.." She admitted, and instantly could feel his eyes burning in her head. Her hands swung to her head to hold it as she groaned with pain. "I wish it would end!" She cried out.

Eanrin Farthestshore's vision flickered and he saw Lanelle through his own fingers. "Lanelle." He said sadly. He wished he could move more than a hand or a foot. "It will end! And it will end well, dammit."

'Hells if I lose my sight for nothing. Though I did.' He winced. "Any huge step in getting rid of anything you don't want is realizing and determining you want it gone, right?" Ugh, air... he whined mentally.

His sadness just continued to pound against her conscience, and Lanelle took yet another glance up to the other girl. "She said.. I wasn't alone... I've.. I've been alone ever since my parents--" she stopped, her voice breaking. "And he was there... I don't see how I even deserve a 'home' as you so put it. How can you even be talking to me right now?!" She growled in anger, though this was at herself.

"Because I care." He raised the hand empty of bird in the air. He wanted to cry every time his vision flickered and connected with the bird's. He had to pass some kind of hope along... "I imposed myself upon your hospitality and woke up with a blanket on top of me. You let me stay when I was ill, and I saw you happily manipulate your magic. It's that happiness I'm clinging to. You're not alone now. And you're worth saving."

Lanelle Lumiea couldn't control her composure very well anymore. Hells, maybe even before all of this happened. For once, it was if those words rang true, and... she believed them. With tears spilling down from her aching, burning eyes again, Lanelle 'fell' into Eanrin, her arms giving him a weak hug. Her tears turned into more painful crying, feeling as if she really was just a small child; weak and vulnerable.

Eanrin Farthestshore's face jolted in shock, and maybe a bit of pain, but his face quickly softened. "There you are." He smiled. "Welcome back, Lanelle." He raised his right arm in a weak hug. Loosening his grip, he let letterbird hop up and nuzzle her face. In the midst of his smiling, he heard a distant gun shot. He attempted to peer through the bird's eyes to make sure Lanelle wasn't scared. "I think I hear our help in the distance..." He said quietly.

Lanelle Lumiea released what seemed like a long-held breath at his words. 'Back..?' She thought, but quickly froze as the echoed shots ran across the marbled halls. "W-who.. who's coming?" Instantly her mind went to the guards running throughout Ishgard, and she shook. "They can't find me...." She whispered in a panic.

"No no no, love, these are my friends," He whispered as quickly as his chest would allow. "Trust me." He seriously wished he could make eye contact. Wincing inside and calling himself 'stupid' for the millionth time, he tried to judge Lanelle's reactions. "Trust me?"

Lanelle Lumiea still held her breath and nodded hesitantly. Her heart was still pounding, not knowing who exactly his 'friends' were... 'The Maelstrom..?' she thought, and her hand clenched his shirt sleeve tightly. Her eyes looked up to see his still faded and searching in the dark, and her heart sunk. 'How can he trust me..?'

Eanrin Farthestshore took her silence and the slight rustling as acceptance of his words, since she wasn't dashing to her feet and clicking away down the hall. "I don't want you to be afraid." He frowned. His heart lifted, knowing his friends were close. He wished he could transfer his own hope. "I don't know if this will help or make it worse, but it's just Zui and Aethelbald on their way. No one else." He listened to hear her reaction. His vision flickered and he realized the bird had crept over to Rayn and was looking at her face. He was glad to see it was peaceful and not pale. He closed his eyes in relief. A chain of gunfire sounded a bit closer and faded again to silence.

Lanelle Lumiea released her grip of his sleeve and her hands moved to hug her knees. "Aethelbald..." She repeated and remembered the white aether he used on Eanrin in her parents' library. Instantly it brought her chills, and her eyes looked back to the arrow still lodged in the Miqo'te. 'He's going to heal him again, isn't he..?' She thought. The gunfire going off in the distance continued to beat against her weary nerves, and she held tight to her knees. "He has.. power.." She whispered as she placed her chin in between both knees. The robe was filthy, now, and she inhaled the dust attached to it. The girl rubbed her nose and then stared back at the arrow. "He'll.. help you again, at least.."

Eanrin Farthestshore barked a weak laugh. Taking a couple of quiet breaths he sighed out, "I absolutely cannot wait to be able to move and breathe again." He shut his eyes and wince/smiled. He ran her phrasing back through his head a couple of times. "He told me he offered you his friendship." Eanrin said quietly. "And that you turned him down." His eyes turned in the direction he knew she was sitting. "His offer always stands, you know." The bird brushed against Rayn's face a couple of times then hopped around in two circles and nestled near her. "I told you I want to help you. I mean it. We can ask him to help you too. I bet he wants to help you."

Lanelle Lumiea frowned and stood to her feet, turning away. "I don't know, Eanrin.." She whispered, and sighed softly. The rattling and gunfire was definitely approaching, and she braced herself as she looked over to the staircase leading down to the basement section they were in. "After everything I've done.." She trailed off and looked over to the bird sitting contently near her. 'I don't have that..' She thought, and focused slightly on the heavy burden in her heart, still able to see the eyes on her.

Eanrin Farthestshore raised his right hand slightly in alarm. Like he could keep her from running; he scoffed to himself. But he couldn't help but smile... the way she said his name, not a bit of disdain, sarcasm, or hate, it broke his heart in a good way. "I'm not a shining beacon of innocence either." A couple of gunshots sounded just above the stairs, and there were also some quieter thuds.

"Do you think we're close?" A small female voice called not too far.

"Actually, yes, Zui. They should be in the next room." A deeper voice replied.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?!" The voice squeaked excitedly and small footsteps grew rapidly closer till a pair of small hands braced themselves against the rails and a head peeked over. The blonde girl with red shooting glasses quickly scanned the room and then the head and hands disappeared as the girl called, "They're here! They're here! Come on, Aethel, hurry!"

Lanelle Lumiea followed the voices and her gaze led up to find a small head peeking out over the top of the railing. She braced herself further and took a step further away from the Miqo'te on the floor. "I.. I shouldn't be here..." She sighed and inhaled deeply afterward, feeling as if she'd need to hold her breath again momentarily.

Eanrin Farthestshore extended a hand. "You're not alone." He whispered. "Still trust me?"

As the small footsteps rang down the stairs, Aethelbald's head appeared over the top floor. His gaze rested on Rayn a moment, then searched the floor till he saw Eanrin and Lanelle. He smiled brightly as he met the Elezen's gaze and he turned to descend the stairs at a more controlled trot. "Rayn!" Zui was on her knees and pulling a book out of her satchel. She flipped to a page and held out her hands as a greenish white magic ran its way along the length of the Miqo'te girl's body. "Nothing's broken." Zui said quickly, and she scooted over to look into Rayn's eyes.

Aethelbald quietly walked around the pair near the foot of the stairs and slowly advanced on Eanrin and Lanelle. "Hello again." He said softly to Lanelle, smiling as he remembered her almost-promise that they wouldn't meet again. His eyes turned sadly to Eanrin. "Doing alright, there, son?"

"Could be worse. Could be better." Eanrin muttered. "Is Rayn okay?" He just wanted an answer to his question!

Lanelle Lumiea wanted to disappear. When her eyes met Aethelbald's, and she saw his smile... 'How can they even look at me?!' She thought and shut her eyes, turning away from him as well. How could she say hello? As if nothing happened? How can he look at her like that, as if she didn't just nearly kill the man on the floor beside them? And the girl over by the stairs?! She recognized the Lalafell.. the same girl from the library. 'So her friends were these... how.. how could they really have wanted to help that badly..?' She continued to think, and barely opened her eyes, still set on not making eye contact.

"Chin up, Lanelle." Eanrin's gaze was almost on her, since the bird had settled back near his head. "Don't you dare shoulder all that blame. That voidsent has messed with you for years."

Aethelbald remained where he stopped, bowing slightly in Lanelle's direction. "May I once again attend to my apprentice? He seems to have gotten himself injured yet again." His eyes were quiet, but the corner of his mouth twisted up in just a small amount of wry amusement.

"She seems stable!" Zui called from the other end of the room. "She just won't wake up." Zui sat back on her butt and gathered her knees in her arms. Somehow, she sensed that she shouldn't dash over quite yet. Something she was fine with if she was being honest. Her lavender eyes settled on Lanelle. She wanted nothing more than to go help Eanrin. But he would kill her if she caused Lanelle to run away. "Yet again. You say that like it's a bad thing." Eanrin smirked, then grimaced for talking too loud.

Lanelle Lumiea turned her head toward Aethelbald, her body still keeping its defensive stance. But she looked the Au'ra in the eyes finally after hearing the Miqo'te trying to soothe her. "Please..?" She almost begged in a small voice. It actually even surprised herself how much she really wanted him to be alright.

Aethelbald smiled warmly. "Thank you, Lanelle." He walked slowly over to Eanrin and knelt down. "You talked too much." Aethelbald scolded, noting how deep the arrow had gone. "But look at this. Our dear Lanelle saved you quite a bit of blood. That'll buy you a few day's recovery time. Very well done, Lanelle. Good thinking." Aethelbald turned his head and smiled at the girl with a grateful nod before turning his attention back to the Miqo'te on the floor.

Lanelle Lumiea kinda cringed. How was she supposed to react to praises of a job well done...? But she swallowed hard and relaxed slightly as she turned to watch the Au'ra inspect the wound. "I..." She kicked herself mentally. 'I can't even speak...'

Aethelbald finished inspecting and turned to Lanelle. "You might want to look away if you're squeamish. He warned before turning back to Eanrin. He dug in a small satchel and produced a small knife. A couple of rings seemed to be welded to it. He slid it onto his index finger then breathed a bit of fire onto it. His hand was entirely unburned. As he waited for the blade to cool, he used his left hand to place some leaves in Eanrin's hand. The Bard semi-smoothly managed to get them to his mouth and he chewed them a bit, then spat them on the floor nearby. Next came a stick, which Eanrin placed in his mouth. It was like a drill, and Eanrin mentally winced at this fact. Always getting wounded. Aethelbald then used the knife like a claw and removed the arrow swiftly and efficiently. Eanrin just had his eyes closed tight and his mouth clamped on the stick. Setting the tool and arrow aside, the dragon then began to cast white magic with both hands hovering around the wound. Eanrin visibly relaxed and it wasn't much time later that Aethelbald offered Eanrin a hand and helped him to sit up. Eanrin practically gasped in relief and pain as he could finally move. Tears ran down his face, and he moved quickly to swipe them away.

Lanelle Lumiea watched the procedure through it's entirely. Not in at any point did her stomach turn sour, and it made her wonder if it was because she had become calloused to such things. But he was still in pain, and that didn't sit well with her. She gave a sigh of relief being able to see him move as naturally as he could, considering the trauma. 'And this is where they leave...' She took a small step back.

Aethelbald placed a still-glowing hand against Eanrin's face and looked carefully at his eyes. The Miqo'te's ears drooped and the Bard let out one loud sob. The dragon held Eanrin close for a moment and then muttered, "Get loosened up, Knight. I may need your help." He turned to face Lanelle. "Thank you for staying and talking with him. I really am glad we were able to catch up with you. I'm also glad you survived whatever Rayn did." The dragon looked around a bit in bewilderment. He rummaged in his travel satchel and pulled out a leather journal. "I found this the day after we met." He said quietly. "I had a feeling it could help you, but we couldn't read it.” Aethelbald nodded in Zui's direction. "With your help, Zui managed to break the ward on it. I think there's a spell or two in here that you would find quite useful. Especially since it's practically tailor written for a girl of your talents."

"Lanelle." He said quietly, still holding the book, he stood to his full height. "If you so wish, I believe my friends and I could free you of Friend."

#The Golden Embers #Rayn Atkascha #Eanrin Farthestshore #Lanelle Lumiea #Aethelbald Passerine #Zuzui Zui

1 note · View note