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my-lost-darling · 2 years

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It Ends at the Beginning {The Darlings + Ting-Ting + Thistle}

The Darlings attempt their most daring feat. To all return from Elfhame.

@lost-girl-at-sea @darling-lost-boy @princess-ting-ting @thorns-ofthe-thistle @among-the-lostboys

When: May 14th/May 15th

WENDY:

Fate and time had a certain irony to it.

Memories had faded, trees had overgrown, but Wendy remembered this park. For a long time she dreamt of it. The days when she had run around with skinned knees without a care in the world. Had it been a full moon that night as well? Wouldn’t that be fitting? To go back in, at same place for the same reason.

Wendy wasn’t worried about coming back.

As long as John and Jane came home Wendy didn’t care. Her goodbyes were written in letters. At least this time, she would leave with a mark on this world.

Twisting the ornate key in her hands, Wendy reached out into the moonlight. An audible click where nothing should be echoed and the key twisted into the moonlight. Wendy’s grip faltered as the light twisted and formed a gate, the blue light shimmering where her hand once was.

One step, and she would be in the place of her nightmares once again.

Glancing back at her cousins, her brother, Ting-Ting and over to Thistle, Wendy didn’t want to hesitate. She didn’t want Michael to think she wasn’t planning on coming back, or at least doubting it. Nodding her head at them Wendy nodded, offering a smile she could only hope calmed their hearts in the opposite way it made hers race.

Turning to Thistle instead was easier. Wendy and him had their issues but at least for this, at this moment she trusted him.

“Thistle will you cross first? Your presence is easier to explain than Jane and I.” Just in case.

THISTLE:

This was a horrible idea. Not probably. Not maybe. Certainly.

So why was he here? Not even he fully knew, which meant any answer he gave would not be a lie. He was here to earn Wendy’s trust back as it would be imperative for breaking their engagement. He was here to piss off the queen. He was here because he was bored and this would give him something to do. He was here because he wanted to be. For whatever reason.

He stood with his arms crossed over his chest, off to the side of the rag tag group that Wendy had assembled which was mostly made up of her family and a girl that Thistle did not recognize. One two were coming with them to Elfhame, which was probably for the best. A small amount would be easier to hide. If they were captured, it would mean only one casualty (Jane.)

At his name, Thistle glanced over at Wendy. He could point out that the queen would probably be rather pleased to see Wendy, but he knew it would just get him an irritated look and he was not looking to ruffle feathers. They needed to be on the same side if Jane and John were to survive.

“Very well,” he said with a nod of his head. He stepped up the gate, feeling it’s power crackling. There was a part of him that was thrilled to be going back. This was the longest he had been away from Elfhame since he was still a boy. He missed the Fenlands, not so much the Court, but anywhere in Elfhame was suitable.

He stepped through the portal with little hesitance, his boots hitting marble floor. At once, he recognized the Queen’s private meeting room, just off the rest of her private chambers. He wasn’t surprised, considering the fae that had been working for when would, obviously, report directly to her and meeting in her chambers was better than meeting in the throne room. It was lucky that he was able to orient himself within the castle, but it was also not ideal to be in his grandmother’s private chambers. Glancing around, they were at least alone.

Thistle stepped across the room, taking a seat in the iridescent, plush chair that he knew his grandmother preferred. Crossing his leg at the angle, he waited for Wendy and her cousin.

TING-TING:

Ting-Ting was here, because Jane had asked.

That was half the truth.

Ting-Ting was here, because Jane had asked, because she said she’d offer all the help she could and that involved giving the Darlings any sort of spells she thought might be useful and trekking to London with them to be on the other side of the gates as Wendy and Jane entered a completely different realm just in case anything went wrong — and also because — because she wanted to see John again.

It was as simple and as complicated as that.

She did not say much as they walked to the park, though she glanced at Danny and Michael, out of instinct, to make sure they looked alright. Jane and Wendy were both defiantly looking ahead, their mysterious guide looked rather bored, all things considered.

He was the one who stepped through the gates first — there and then not there. Ting tried not to gasp. (It was a little wondrous, all of it; it was also hard not to shake her doing in the whole matter). Jane looked back at them, gaze drifting from Ting to Michael to finally landing on her brother.

“We’ll be back,” said Jane.

“We’ll be waiting,” said Ting-Ting.

And with a nod, Jane stepped through.

JANE:

She’d imagined this moment hundreds, if not thousands of times, since John disappeared. Most of the time, she was triumphant, for Jane did not want to allow herself to think of defeat. They would be victorious — John would come home with them and they would all be reunited.

Sometimes, she thought of defeat though. In the darkest moments, the ones where the puzzle seemed impossible, she thought about getting to Elfhame and being immediately spotted, being herded into the castle and separated from Wendy and from John — knowing her brother and cousin were just on the other side of a door she could not reach. Sometimes, she imagined a pyrrhic victory, sending John and Wendy back and remaining in their stead.

But now she could not think of that. Jane had to think of triumph.

She held her breath as she stepped through the door, her feet hitting marble. Somehow, she did not expect that. She straightened up, gazing around the rather ornate room.

“Where are we?” she said to Wendy, once her cousin had come through the portal as well.

WENDY:

There was a part of Wendy that did not want to go. The fear to step willingly back into that realm. But the want to get her brother back was stronger than any fear she might face, the same way that need and want to protect them kept her going all these years.

With that thought stepping in was easy.

Realizing where they were was harder.

Wendy had hoped they were would be somewhere in the gardens, they would have to sneak past more people but at least they could make a plan and head forward. But being this close to the Queen was risky. Wendy didn’t have the time to worry about that, they needed to move on.

Only giving a glance to Thistle, Wendy moved her attention to Jane.

“The Queen’s private meeting room, her chamber is just over there.” Wendy gestured toward it with a small grimace. At least she knew where they were. This castle had been her home for long enough she could walk it blindfolded. (And considering there had been comments about only needing her voice, it could have happened.)

No footsteps could be heard so that was a good thing.

“We should head straight to the library. As straight as possible considering.” Wendy gestured with her hand as if any Fae could stumble onto them. But she wasn’t wasting time, only another quick glance to Thistle before she moved to the door taking a moment to listen before slipping into her chambers.

“Considering it’s mid day, everyone should be in the throne room or outside enjoying the parties.”

THISTLE:

“Best to avoid the windows then,” Thistle said and swept off without another word. As he turned, his glamour dropped. His nails sharpened, his skin began to glow with a faint purple tinge, his ears grew to a point, and his eyes became dark, dark brown. It felt odd to go about in the castle in his mortal clothes. He felt as if he was calling out to all other the fae: here I am, here I am a mortal. For that was all some of them saw him as.

It didn’t matter. They would not be here long.

Thistle opened the door with the easy casualty of someone who was supposed to be where he was. There were no guards. Why would there be? The queen thought she knew every person that came in and out of the castle. Her confidence was one of her greatest faults. He was not the only fae to exploit it.

He did not speak as he turned down one of the hallways. Not at first. He knew that Wendy would know he wasn’t leading them astray and silence was pertinent. Jane’s footfalls were especially cumbersome and mortal, but Thistle’s hearing was sharp. There was no sound of anyone in the hallways. They did not see a single soul.

When they reached the beautiful, ornate doors of the library, Thistle pulled his shoulders back so that he stood tall, adopting a prince’s posture. He looked over his shoulder, dark eyes falling on Jane.

“Do as you are told and follow my lead. Tá Eolas Cumhachta does not suffer fools.”

With that, he pulled the door open and stepped in. The demon bird found them at once, stretching his neck out and blinking slowly at them. “Prince Thistle, Lady Wendy,” he said dipping his large head. “I was not expecting you.”

“Well met, Tá Eolas Cumhachta. It has been too long.”

“I was told not to allow you to see the human.”

“Is there anything I can do to convince you otherwise?”

“No.”

WENDY:

Good old, Tá Eolas Cumhachta. He wasn’t unexpected though Wendy wished he was easier to handle. Still Wendy wasn’t someone to be intimidated and she looked up at the owl. He wouldn’t let them pass, but Wendy wasn’t alone and Wendy doubted the Queen would think to ban all humans from speaking to John. Belle would have had a harder time speaking to him if that was the case.

Or perhaps, the Queen had found out and made it more difficult. Wendy wanted to barrel past Tá Eolas Cumhachta and get her brother back.

What would she say? Wendy wasn’t the one that had a connection to him, the two of them had built up ideas about one another. Attempting to protect each other and willing to sacrifice themselves to save the other. There was no doubt in her mind John might try the same and in turn she knew he would think the same of her.

This wasn’t her rescue mission.

Wendy wasn’t the one leading the charge.

It couldn’t be her and it sure as hell couldn’t be Thistle. It could be Jane though.

“If Thistle can not convince you otherwise perhaps we can barter. Something of the human world for passage for one. You will break no rules as neither of us will pass you.” Wendy offered pulling out the rubix cube, Ting had spelled for them earlier. The colours shifted in the light as Tá Eolas Cumhachta tilted his head to look at the cube debating perhaps if he would accept the bargain.

As he took the cube for her, Wendy gestured for Jane behind her to go.

This was Jane’s rescue mission.

Jane had to lead the charge.

“Fine. One may enter.”

JANE:

Jane was not afraid.

Not of the giant owl, at least. Not even as it loomed over them, its dark eyes pooling like night incarnate, its sharp talons glimmering. It was probably the most magical creature that Jane had ever seen, but it did not scare her like some magic did. This owl creature was an obstacle — it was like the Sphinx, or Cerberus, or some other creature in an old story, and she was the hero on a mission and so long as she believed that, they would emerge triumphant.

She had to do this.

There was no other option.

Wendy handed over the enchanted Rubik's Cube that Ting-Ting had finagled early, and Jane took a deep breath and walked through the library. There were shelves and shelves of books, and normally to someone like Jane, this would be a source of great interest. But she was not here for forbidden knowledge or hidden secrets; the world of the Fae, as beautiful and mysterious as it was, did not entice her. Oh, certainly, she found it alluring — alluring in the same way that a beam of bioluminescent light in the deep ocean might lure in its prey. But she was not swayed by the jewel-toned tomes on the shelves, or by the soft, ever-present melody that seemed to hum in her ears, or the gentle dappled light that shifted as she walked. She wanted one thing and one thing only: her cousin.

And she spotted a mop of tawny hair between the shelves. Jane blinked, unsure if this was really John, or just a trick of her eye. But no, the figure in front of her bent his head the way she had seen John Darling do a million times, and he carefully turned a page with his hand like she’d seen her cousin do ever since they were children.

(The only thing he did not do like John was blink, but Jane pushed that thought away).

“John,” she called, her voice soft at first. But she cupped her hands over her mouth and the next time she spoke, her voice was strong and steady. “John!”

And with that, she ran towards him, her heart beating so fast and hard, she thought it might tumble out of her chest and make her trip over her feet.

JOHN:

John had been reading for an eternity.

This was the gift of Elfhame, or so the Queen had said. Here in the library, with an infinity of books containing an infinity of timelines– stories that lasted a blink and stories that documented the birth of all worlds, down to the first stitching of atom to cell–time took a knee. As a scholar on the Queen’s behest, time could bow to John Darling too. Well, as long as he remembered who exactly he was reading for, and why, and did so with the eye given to him, an eye that would never get tired, never blink, and never forget what exactly it had read. An eternity of knowledge for an eternity of servitude. It was a fair trade. It was also a bargain John still planned to break. He’d find the secret. He’d discover the back door. He’d write a new loophole in his own contract so he could break free and defeat eternity and Elfhame. John read, and he took notes, and he spent his day doing all this while thinking. He had notebooks and notebooks of things he had learned that he was certain would all amount to something one day, even if all he had were dead ends and questions. But he had time– he had gotten to Elfhame yesterday. He had time– perhaps it was a month now, he couldn’t be sure. He had time– hadn’t he seen Belle Acheron a few hours ago?

The longer John read, the more he fell under Elfhame’s spell, and the way it played with time.

He did not hear his cousin’s voice when she called to him. He was buried deep in possibility, and in the enticing turn of the page. He had learned about the seductive quality of the page-turn first in a picture book class a long, long, long time ago… or maybe it was only yesterday. He knew the magic it was working on his mind now, but simply could not resist it. What better question was there, in the whole of all the worlds, then: what happens next?

What happens next?

Jane continued to call for John.

What happens next?

John turned the page.

What happens next?

The book was ripped from his hands.

And here, the book finally let John go. He startled, looking up at his cousin’s face. It felt like she had leapt out from the pages itself, like she was two-dimensional and paper-thin. But then Jane’s mouth moved and he read the word she said on her lips: John.

“Jane,” he answered her and then snatched the book back. Just as quickly, he stood from the table. “What the hell are you doing here? Bloody hell– Acheron probably sent y– nevermind. You have to go.”

JANE:

Jane laughed.

Perhaps that was not the right reaction to have in this situation — sneaking into Elfhame, bargaining with a demonic owl, standing in front of her cousin who she had last seen disappear into the fog one cold December evening. But she couldn’t help it. Because his reaction was exactly what she expected. It was what she would’ve done, after all. It was what all the Darlings would’ve done.

That was something they all shared, she felt. A streak of stubbornness. Even Danny, with his soft heart and quiet words, had that in his bones. After all, he’d come to Swynlake and then to the wedding and now he waited for them on the other side of the door.

That being said, she knew that convincing John was a whole quest of its own.

“I’m not going anywhere without you, John,” said Jane. The smile was wiped from her face now and she blocked John, planting both hands on the table. “We’re taking you home, no matter what you have to say about it. And don’t give me any of that self-sacrificial crap.”

She side-stepped to cut him off from walking around her. She got a good look at him now and for the most part, he seemed relatively unharmed. At least, on the surface, though there was something skittish in his eyes that she made her stomach lurch. Staying too long in another world probably did that to you. She was glad they came when they did.

“We’ve been working for a year to find a way to bring you back. And we have to do it now.”

JOHN:

A year. At first, John was motionless, not even blinking. He couldn’t imagine that was right. A year? It hadn’t felt that way here. But this was how Elfhame worked. John had known this. Time stretched and shrunk and followed its own whims. When he’d glimpsed Wendy briefly, before she was freed and he was taken, he had known that less time had passed for her than it had for him. For him, it was nowhere close to a year. It must be a month, only. Two months, maybe. Not enough time for John to figure out what he had come here to figure out. He needed more time. There were so many books to read. And it was still too dangerous.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” John hissed at her. He glanced toward the stacks– expecting a shadow to fall and for Tá Eolas Cumhachta to appear. The library’s guardian could not be far. How had they even passed him? Whatever tricks they were playing, they would not last. Even if John followed them, how far could they go without being found and caught? And then it would be John and Jane and– who else had they brought? His heart was in his throat, the dread crawling up his spine. “You’re all going to get caught. Who the hell is with you?” He stepped closer to Jane, his eyes much harder than they were a second ago. “If you brought Wendy back, I swear to god, Jane. I’ll never forgive you.”

JANE:

“Whose idea do you think this was?” Jane snarled. She tried not to think of the sting in her heart at John’s words, that mix of hurt and betrayal and just — well, she was not going to think of it. Instead, she kept her voice as low as she possibly could while threatening to yell. “We’re not stupid. We have a plan. We’ve been working on this plan and —”

Sometimes, when emotion overtook Jane it defaulted to anger, which swept everything up like a tempest and destroyed all in its wake, a rage that she wielded and controlled like a master of her own destruction. And sometimes, it choked up in her throat and made her feel like a blubbering child, just wanting to play with her cousins, just wanting them to listen to her.

“Wendy is here because she loves you and she wants to see you and she cannot imagine a life in our world without you,” said Jane. Wendy had not explicitly said this to her, but Jane knew it to be true. She drew herself up to her full height, which was not very tall at all especially when compared to John, but she needed that leverage, needed to feel like a full-grown adult and not a kid asking her older cousins if she could play with them.

“And I am here for that reason too. And Danny and Michael and Ting-Ting are just on the other side of the portal because of that, and honestly, we went through all this bloody trouble to come get you for the same reason you went through all the bloody trouble to get Wendy and if we get caught —” She took a deep breath here, but her voice did not quaver. “I’ll stay behind so you two can run ahead.”

And without waiting a second to process that, she added, her voice slightly softened now, “Please. Just see her. She misses you as much as you miss her.”

JOHN:

Ah, a plan. Well, since they had a plan, then everything was alright! Why hadn’t John considered simply making up a plan, the way he used to make up code names while playing spies, or coded languages he used to pass notes in grade school? Yes, he’d merely been wasting time here in Elfhame, as opposed to making a plan.

Sarcasm aside now– their plan would not work. This, John was certain of. If Jane had come this far, it was because the Queen already knew she was here. She was watching them, gathering information, deciding what move she would play next. They were all puppets now. John had traded his freedom willingly to become one, but he hadn’t wanted this for anyone else. That’s why he had pushed Jane, Michael, Danny, everyone, far far far away.

Jane’s proposed martyrdom only showed John that he was right. This was not her burden. She had not been dragged away to the Fae realm all those years ago. This was John’s fight, alone. “No,” said John. He spoke in a low voice, dangerously calm, because one could not afford anger in the Elfhame library. “I will not go with you. I will not endanger my family again. Take Wendy, and go.”

JANE:

Jane hadn’t taken a physics class in quite some time, but she vaguely recalled something about immovable objects and unstoppable forces. Here was John, now, an immovable object grinding his feet into the floor of this library and refusing to budge. And here was Jane — Jane and Wendy and Danny and Michael and even Ting-Ting — the unstoppable forces determined on bringing him home, no matter what.

Now, Jane couldn’t quite recall what the actual law of physics said about whether the object or the force would win, but as it turned out, she did not quite need to remember that, because right as she opened her mouth, she heard the rustle of wings. She looked up and though she could not see anything directly, she knew it was only a matter of time before that monstrous owl wondered where she was or else some other being in this strange world came creeping out of the shadows.

They were running out of time. Running out of choices. Jane couldn’t convince John with words, because she knew she did not have the upperhand there. She didn’t spin stories or pour over fairy tales looking for hidden meaning. But what she could do was —

Without hesitating, Jane leaned forward and shoved all the books on the table to the floor so that they clattered and clammored across the marble. She looked up at John, just as the rustling of wings grew louder and turned into chattering and faint calls.

And then she lunged towards him, grabbing his hand.

“We need to run,” she said, and yanked him along.

JOHN: Truthfully, there was a piece of John still within the pages of his book– trapped in the middle of the sentence that Jane had wrenched him from. This part of his brain made him slow and addled, more than he realized, for it felt like it had been a year since he had rested his eyes and gone to sleep. If he had been himself, he would have anticipated what Jane did next. Because it was so very Jane, wasn’t it? She played to win, which meant playing dirty.

But he saw the glint in her eye too late. His own widened– and he lifted a hand– but Jane struck.

The books clattered to the ground, like rocks down a mountain– and with it came an avalanche of danger.

“Jane, no!” He gasped and he fell to the ground to scoop up one of the books the way his instinct as a scholar demanded. Only a moment later when he heard the flurry of feathers and Jane was pulling at his arm did he realize there was no going back now.

Still clutching the only book he salvaged from the ground, holding it like a lifeline, he turned and he ran.

They darted down the long column between aisles, feet pounding on the immaculate marble floor. “This way!” he spat. He grabbed Jane and pulled her down a row. They dashed, until the end of it, and then John turned left, not right, in the direction of the exit. He ducked into another row, weaving through the stacks as though he were a mouse trapped in a lab, scenting for cheese.

The noises behind them only grew though. Not only the screech of an owl, but the shouting of voices: the guards, alerted.

“So, what exactly was next in your plan?!” He huffed as he dragged Jane down yet another aisle, weaving a long-winded diagonal to shake the guards off. “Was it getting caught, perhaps? Or you just wanted to piss me off, specifically, maybe?”

JANE:

“You know I’d never miss a chance to piss you, specifically, off,” Jane snapped.

If she closed her eyes, Jane could pretend this was a game.

They were running through the park, the same park that they’d turned the key in an invisible door. Jane would shout as she ran after John. The goal of the game? Get to Wendy in time. Get to Wendy and race across the park to the other side, where Danny and Michael were waiting for them.

When she was a child, she would imagine greedy pirates at their heels, or fearsome dragons.

Now, it was the beating of wings and the shouts of very real fae guards.

Her toes were not bare and grass did not squish between her feet. Her running shoes hit the marble floors and John jerked her around the corner of a shelf and her shoulder slammed into it, the pain ricocheting through her body.

This wasn’t a game. Of course, it wasn’t a game. Jane knew it wasn’t a game, and she held onto John’s hand very tightly, running faster than she ever had in her life.

“Wendy!” she gasped, spotting Wendy’s strange fae companion first, then her cousin. “I have him — we’ve got to go.”

WENDY:

Wendy froze for a moment as she caught sight of John, while she couldn’t claim that this had worked at the very least it was closer than they had been moments ago. It was Jane’s voice that reminded Wendy that they were in Elfhame and apparently her cousin hadn’t thought to consider that you did things quieter. More smoothly and with a lot more discretion.

But it seemed that was not the case and although Wendy’s fear spiked she couldn’t let herself freeze completely. Even if she just wanted to take a good look at John.

There would be plenty of time for that later. They would all get out of here. They had to.

“Thistle lead the way. I’ll round out the back so no one can get separated.” If Jane or John did fall behind she was a little worried that Thistle wouldn’t call out so she would put herself there knowing if she fell back she could find her way out too. “Take the same route, no one will expect us to head there.”

JOHN: Wendy. The last time he had seen her, she had stood silent next to the queen. She had been forbidden to speak. To move. To do anything. Their eyes had met and then she’d been led away.

The time before that, he’d been eight years old. Then, it was the guards leading John away, taking him back to the door, to his quiet London bedroom. Ten years. Fifteen years. Sixteen years. His whole life. He had been searching for her, looking for her, his whole life. And here she was– a stranger to him, but still his sister. She looked at him for only a moment before her eyes jumped to a subject of the Queen. And John knew exactly who that fae man was. Thistle. Prince of the Fenlands. He had seen records, timelines, read over agricultural reports and inventory, and he knew that this man– this man– was engaged to his sister.

He had Wendy’s attention. “Wendy,” he said with all the breath he had left. But he could not stretch out his arms to her, to hold her or to be held. Standing right in front of him, she was still too far away– at a distance he might never reach.

THISTLE:

Thistle cast Wendy a petulant look at her ordering him around, but it was more teasing than anything. His pride was not as rankled as he acted it was. Besides, it was a good thing she was keeping her head about her. If she’d fallen apart at the sight of John, it would’ve been annoying. He would’ve had to drag her out of here and no one wanted that. It was undignified.

And if there was anything Wendy wasn’t, it was undignified.

She kept her composure as they heard the screech of a bird and a shadow covered them from above. There was the clatter of footsteps.

“Time to go,” he ordered, his voice smooth, but he pulled the sword from the scabbard at his hip. He did not want to use it, but he also had no qualms killing his grandmother’s guards. She wouldn’t be too upset with them. They weren’t her pets the way her humans were. Still, it wouldn’t be good for the Fenlands. If he killed anyone, Wendy was going to owe him majorly.

His clawed hand reached out and grabbed Jane’s arm, shoving her forward and then pushing John between the shoulderblades, to make sure everyone was moving before he smoothly slid to the front of their ranks, his tail twitching as he kept his ears alert. Since there were not usually guards on the library they had poured in and spread into the stacks, leaving only one at the door.

Thistle dispatched him easily with a twist of his sword, snapping the other’s sword out of his hand and then cracking him on the head with the hilt. He shook his head. An ordinary guard was no match for a trained prince. He hopped gracefully over the prone body in front of the door and slunk into the hallway. It was quiet, for now.

“This way.” He turned the opposite way from whence they came, planning to loop back around towards the Queen’s quarters and cover their tracks.

WENDY:

Wendy watched carefully as Thistle moved gracefully, sure you may not think clawed hands and pushing and then knocking someone out was graceful but when a Prince did it. Well it was slightly attractive. She of course couldn’t stay there staring as the group was ushered forward Wendy stayed back.

She hadn’t practiced this much, but there couldn’t be a better time than for this to work. She had learned quickly it didn’t even need to be words, it was the tone and inflection, it was her mood and her pitch. And while she couldn’t be too loud since she couldn’t afford for John and the others to be knocked out, the guards closing in on the open library door slumped to the ground snoring peacefully.

At least until someone found them as read them the riot act for falling asleep in the middle of a chase.

Wendy wouldn’t want to be a fly on the wall for that conversation so she was quick to turn on her heel and rush to catch up to her family. The remaining guards would be on them soon enough and Wendy couldn’t lead them to everyone else.

JANE:

Jane ran.

She did not have time to think of anything else. Like whether or not this had been a good idea. Like whether or not they would even make it out of here. She couldn’t afford to worry. She had to spend all her energy on getting out of here — there was no other option.

They would succeed. They would make it through the portal and return with John. Danny, Micheal, and Ting-Ting would be waiting for them on the other side.

Jane grit her teeth and believed.

Thistle knocked out a guard and Jane followed. She glanced behind her shoulder briefly to make sure John followed — only she did not see Wendy for a moment. She paused, fighting the urge to scream out Wendy’s name, but soon enough, her cousin caught up with them. There was no time for questions. Jane just nodded and ran.

“We’re close,” she said, partly to John and mostly to herself, recognizing where they were now as the floor slowly turned to marble. “Just ahead and through the door —”

JOHN:

He had spent a year here. This fact still did not compute to John; really, it was incorrect by Elfhame’s standards. But still, the thought looped back, as they raced through the stacks and then toward some unknown place. Because John did not think he’d ever gone past the library. He had spent a year here, or a week, or several hours, and in that time, he’d been to his private quarters – a closet of a room, because he was a mortal servant of the Queen and nothing more– and the library and that was all.

It hadn’t felt that way though. He felt as though he had traveled to the icy peaks of the Iceland’s and tasted the foul air of the Fenlands. He’d read so many books that he’d climbed inside them and had adventures there. He could answer any question anyone had about Elfhame, but he hadn’t been down this corridor, hadn’t realized that the way out was just– a step away.

That’s what he was to believe, right? That’s what Jane meant, right? John’s mind reeled. He’d been searching for a loophole when he should have just played the Fae like a human: broken his damn deal and said to hell with it. That was the best part about mortals, wasn’t it? They lied and they cheated.

But really, it couldn’t be so simple.

The door appeared– or at least, John figured it must be The Door, though a description of it had not been in any of his precious books– and John came to a halt. His heart was in his throat.

“I don’t think– I shouldn’t go with you. I’m telling you, this is a bad idea,” warned John, shaking his head. Suddenly, the possibility of escape was more terrifying than anything else.

John had never imagined what would come next.

WENDY:

There really wasn’t any time to waste. No second guessing at the door in front of them. They needed to step through and escape to the human realm. Or this really would be for nothing. The Queen hated to lose, she hated to be bested and it was one thing to come here and fail at the beginning, another to fail this close to succeeding.

And if they did succeed, while the Queen would be pissed, Wendy was banking on the fact she would do anything to save face. There wouldn’t be many that knew what they had done. Jane would be an unknown and Wendy would take the brunt of the blame. And now John as well.

Thistle was an outlier. The Queen had sowed her seeds and she knew the effect it had on them. So perhaps she would be foolish enough to believe Thistle had no part of this.

“A bad idea was coming here in the first place. A worse idea for me to stay and for you two to leave.” Wendy stated. “A worse idea for you to trade places with me.” Wendy stated continued moving in front of John, grabbing his chin to tilt his head toward her, scanning his eyes.

Her little brother, in one piece and close to freedom, there was nothing more than she wanted to wrap him in her arms and never let him go. But the danger was too close to relax now.

“The worse idea is any of us staying at this point.” Setting her hands on his arms, giving him a squeeze. “We need to go, And we need to go now. Altogether.”

JANE:

“We can save this discussion for after we get out of here,” Jane said sharply. She wasn’t mad — if anything, she was anxious. They were so close. So damn close. They just had to keep moving forward. And when they stepped through that door, all of the Darlings would be together at long last.

They would figure out what came after, well, after. Whatever the Queen plotted, whatever came next, at least they would be together. They would have each other. John had defied the odds and rescued Wendy. And now the rest of the Darlings had done the same. They would face what was next together.

They just needed to take that first step.

Jane brushed past John and Wendy towards the door, her hand outstretched.

Except —

The door wouldn’t open. Her hand met the blue, swirling surface, and it was as if she were touching stone. Her hand would not slide through, not in the same way that they’d so easily entered.

“What’s wrong?” she gasped. She splayed her hand against it again. Then again. Then her fingers curled into a fist and she gave it a punch, gritting her teeth as her hand bounced off, her knuckles aching. She shook her hand, glancing from John and Wendy to the mysterious fae who accompanied them. “What’s happening? Why isn’t it letting us through?”

THISTLE:

Thistle chuckled as the mortal smacked against the door. “What? Did you think you could just leave Elfhame?”

Three pairs of angry, desperate eyes turned to him and the fae prince simply shrugged. “I could not have told you about it before or the magic would not have worked. They have to pull you through. Your tethers to the mortal realm.” His eyes flicked to John and the tiniest smirk played on his lips, showing the tips of his inhumanly sharp incisors, sparkling white.

“Hopefully they are strong enough.”

DANNY:

On the other side of the door, Danny waited. He sat on a park bench, sandwiched between Michael and Ting-Ting. At first, he’d wandered around the park playing Pokémon Go. Then, he’d come back and plopped down and played Endless Summer for a while. He’d gotten bored with that eventually and his phone started dying. Ting-Ting had spotted him playing so they’d had a conversation about it for a while (in which Danny fell a little more in love with her…)

But eventually, even dating sims and real life crushes weren’t enough to stop the press of worry as the sky darkened, the moon rose higher and nothing happened.

Danny wondered how long they’d be here. When the moment would be that they’d get up, trudge to his aunt and uncle’s house and go to sleep and come back the next day. They hadn’t talked about that. “I’m and out” Jane had said and Danny had nodded, but he didn’t know if he’d believed her. After all, Wendy had been lost for twenty years. John had been lost for more than one. The Darlings did not have a good track record when it came to Elfhame.

He wanted to ask, like a little kid wondering “are we there yet?” but he was not a little kid. And this was serious.

As it crept closer to midnight, Danny watched the spot where his sister and cousin had disappeared. Nothing happened.

And then, something did.

“Did you see that?” Danny sat bolt upright. Something had shimmered, he swore. He saw it. Like the heat rising off asphalt in the summer. The air seemed to warp and a light flashed, bright and blue. It lasted only a second.

Danny’s feet hit the gravel and he moved towards the anomaly.

“Danny!” he heard Michael call his name uncertainly but he was so close.

His heart was pounding but he felt drawn to it. His arm lifted, hand reaching out. He touched something solid and then he stumbled as his hand was sucked through, disappearing into nothing. Around his hoodie sleeve, the light shimmer bright blue.

“Ah!” he gasped and flailed and tried to pull his hand back, but something grabbed him from the other side…

JANE:

“What?” Jane spat. Her hand curled into a fist once more. Part of her wanted to scream. To shout. To swear. But that wouldn’t solve anything. All that could was the strength of their tethers or whatever.

Danny and Michael and Ting-Ting on the other side.

Slowly, she uncurled her fist. She placed her hand against the door again, taking a deep breath.

“Please, Danny,” she whispered.

And then, she felt something. Not just something — her brother’s hand.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d held it, but she was suddenly hit with a memory. She must’ve been twelve or so, and Danny no more than five. She ran across the beach and he tried to keep up with her, but he wasn’t fast enough. So, Jane stopped walking. She turned back and ran towards Danny, her hand outstretched, and they walked together along the beach, just as fast as Danny’s little legs could take him and no faster. She remembered how small his hand had felt in hers back then.

Now his fingers were longer than hers, his wrist wider. She couldn’t see Danny, but she grasped onto his hand, because she knew it was him. And he would pull her out and bring her home.

She glanced over her shoulder at John and Wendy, before she stepped through — to make sure they were okay. To make sure they understood.

“They’ll pull you through,” she said.

And with that she stepped through the door —

TING-TING:

Ting-Ting had barely registered what was happening when Jane’s head emerged from out of nowhere, swirling blue suddenly surrounding her form. She looked shocked and then her body sort of lurched forward, as if the portal was shoving her out of it. She collapsed onto Danny, and that swirling blue vanished. For a moment, Jane did not get up. She stared at Danny, a choked sigh escaping her lips, as if she might say something, and then —

Jane rarely wasted time. She stood up and stepped towards Ting-Ting and Michael, her brows knit in determination.

“You two need to get them,” she said, breathlessly, and gestured somewhere behind her, even though there was nothing to be seen. “John and Wendy — though, I guess Ting needs to get John, because she won’t be able to get Wendy and —”

But Ting-Ting had stopped listening. She, too, noticed something flickering in the air, though she wasn’t sure what. Besides her, Michael stepped forward, looking into the emptiness.

“Do you see that too?” he asked.

“Yes,” Ting-Ting said slowly.

“You have to do it, Ting,” said Jane. “Because if Michael does it and it’s not Wendy, then Wendy can’t get back and —”

Ting had stopped listening, again. She stepped forward and her heart pounded in her throat. She reached a hand up towards the — tear? rip? Ripple? Whatever it was, it felt surprisingly solid beneath her fingers. She let out a gasp as her hand sank into nothingness, that same blue light slowly rippling around her arm. And then —

She grabbed something. A hand. She wrapped her fingers around it, and she thought of running through Enchantra after the oozlum, and her cheeks flushed a pink, and she scolded herself for being silly and thinking about that right now, when there was something important going on.

What she could do, though, was hold on tightly to the hand — to John’s hand. She was not going to let go. She knew that with certainty.

JOHN: John looked at the door and he hesitated again.

There was only forward. There was only this door– not the same one that he had carved out himself, with sword and trickery and determination. This was a door he did not know, with no idea what waited for him on the other side.

(Only that was a lie. Swynlake was on the other side. Pride University was on the other side. He pictured his apartment with Jane, heard Kensington’s soft whistle and playful hellos, could remember the hamper of laundry and the essay he was revising strewn across his desk. He had frozen his life in place, at least the way it was in his memory so his yesterday and tomorrow had become mirror images of each other. That is– until he walked through the door and discovered for himself the things that had changed, the things that hadn’t.

The people he had left, the people who had left him.

This was the most dangerous unknown of all. Those people were on the other side of the door too. They kept John hesitating a second longer.)

But Wendy stepped up next to him. Her hand fell against his shoulder and though John was much taller than his sister now– he felt small and young again.

You know, he’d always been rubbish at saying no to Wendy.

He glanced back at her one more time as shouts in the distance grew closer. Whatever was on the other side was rushing toward him just as quickly. There was no more time to think.

“You better come through this door right after me,” said John to Wendy.

Then he reached through –

John slipped through the air. There was nothing to catch him, not at first. His eyes widened, and right before he was going to pull back, something solid was there, fingers slipping between his fingers. He knew right away that the hand was not his brother. A name jumped to his lips.

And then– a tug. It was like the name was the key, which turned the door and left Elfhame behind at last.

He stumbled forward back into England. The air was damp and smelled of grass. Another hand steadied him as John gasped like he’d broken through ice. He hadn’t felt fresh air in so long. He’d been trapped in a library, trapped by an infinity of stories. But it was cool like spring– leaves skittering across the familiar pavement of the park from his childhood. Somewhere, a bird was singing.

And in front of him was Ting-Ting.

“Ting-Ting,” he said. His throat caught– there was more to say but he had no idea where to start. His hand was still grasping hers tightly, so tightly he noticed she winced– and he let go at once.

Then John’s eyes moved back toward Michael and reality clicked back into place. “Michael, you have to– you have to get Wendy!”

“On it!” exclaimed Michael, pushing forward and sticking out his hand without any hesitation, because he was the opposite of John in every way. The best of the Darlings. “Wendy, I got you!”

TING-TING:

And there was John. Right in front of her, saying her name.

There was so much she could say. So much she could do. She could hardly wrangle all her thoughts, all the emotions that suddenly flooded through her in what she was sure was an unintelligible cloud of reagents. But despite all that, she opened her mouth and only a single word bubbled through.

“Hi.” Her voice almost caught in her throat. Breathlessly, she managed to add, “It’s certainly good to see you.”

Ting-Ting did not realize how tightly he’d been holding onto hand till he let go. Really, she noticed the absence of his hand more than anything else, the way she could still feel his fingers on her skin even though they were no longer touching.

She reached to grasp her wrist with her other hand, as John shouted to Michael and she turned to look at where Michael confidently stepped, reaching for Wendy without any hesitation whatsoever.

WENDY:

Fickle were the Fae gates, even when you thought you had it all figured out, there was always another riddle to solve. Wendy barely gave a second thought to the explanation, or the fact Thistle had withheld it. Even at their best they held onto their own secrets. It’s why they were where they were.

She couldn’t give him another glance, another thought, if she had she would take the time to break it down, but they did not have the time.

Not as Jane was pulled through.

Not as John stepped up.

Wendy needed him to go first, she had to make sure this would work, and there was a nagging feeling that perhaps she wouldn’t be able to go back. Thistle had said as such. Your tethers. Would one of them on the other side of the gate be enough? Was a year and a half enough to create that tether to pull her back. And while the thoughts raced, she nodded at John unable to verbally agree. She would try her best to follow. That was all that she could do.

John was pulled through and it was just Wendy and Thistle left in Elfhame.

The way it should have been without her brother playing hero.

Flicking her eyes toward Thistle, she wondered if he knew just how grateful she was. How there was no way she could repay his help, her name didn’t even feel like an adequate price at this point. There were no words she really could say to him, and even now it wasn’t the time for any such sentiment. A wasted moment meant a door broken down to get to them.

Still Wendy had gotten her brother back, this mission was a success and the last step was hers to take.

Turning her attention back to the door she reached out and it was instantaneous, no moment to doubt as her youngest brother grasped her hand tightly pulling her through and back into the human realm.

They had done it. Five Darlings stood on one side of the gate together for the first time in decades. For a moment Wendy was hesitant to believe it. Turning back to the gate she waited to see Thistle walk through and only then did the weight fall off her shoulders (at least for now).

It was immediate then did Wendy pull Michael into her arms and reach out for John as well, for all the Darlings really.

They actually did it.

JOHN:

Many years ago, in a different life, the three Darlings had played in this exact park.

John could see the spectres of those children as they raced through the grounds, leaves spinning around them like paper airplanes. There had been picnics here with George and Mary. There had been walks with Nana on damp afternoons, when John could not bear to stay in his house. He had started running in the mornings here– trying to wake up his old joints in the place where he’d learned to be young. He had had his first kiss here– he could find the tree where Lily had scratched two lines, so they might return, and remember.

This had been the same park where the girl who was not Wendy, but who had called herself Wendy, had been found. All stories, it seemed, ended and began in Kensington.

What was this moment, here and now? An ending? Or a beginning?

John had never been good at endings.

But Wendy drew both Michael and himself toward her like she could close off the rest of the world. She was so much smaller than him now– when she’d first been taken, they were the same height–but she had a firm grip. She hugged them both like she could hold forever in place.

John closed his eyes and felt every single missing year between them.

“We did it! Oh my god! We’re all here!” Michael exclaimed between them. When John opened his eyes, his little brother was crying and laughing at the same time. He squeezed both of them tighter. “You dick, John! You absolute dick!”

John scoffed at his brother, but his cheeks were wet too. “Shut up, you.” He mussed Michael’s hair, grateful for his little brother who always lived in the present. “Yell at me later. I’m bloody tired.”

He glanced around at the rest of the party here, his gaze never lingering for long (looking at Ting-Ting, in particular, hurt). There was a lot more to say, but Kensington Park was not the place. Home, however, was just down the block, wasn’t it? He should probably say hello to the rest of Bloomsbury. He should probably say hello to his mum. Then, maybe, this would feel real and not like a dream he’d wake up from at any moment.

“So,” John Darling said, “How about tea?”

#lost girl at sea #darling lost boy #Princess Ting Ting #thorns ofthe thistle #among the lostboys

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sombredancer · 1 month

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Asian dramas and my favorite types of characters

There are my favorite types of characters as a list. A villain with a fatal weakness

Drama: The Scholar Who Walks the Night /밤을 걷는 선비 Character: Gwi Screentime: Secondary Gwi is an ancient vampire and a master of puppets (and Joseon's king is the main of them). He is merciless, invincible and scheming all the drama long, until he accidentally kills a girl, who was his hostage and recalcitrant puppet from her childhood on and was the only one who could scold him and deny him. Nothing about it is said directly in the drama, but after her death he goes insane, kills all of his puppets and this way causes his own death. So, I suppose, she was his only weakness, and I like this type of a personal drama for a villain. Punch-Clock Villain / the Dragon

Drama: 100 Days My Prince /백일의 낭군님 Character: Moo-yeon Screentime: Secondary Moo-yeon works as an assassin for the killer of his father, who is constantly threatening him with the life of his sister. Moo-yeon is a man of a very ill fate: his family was accused of a treason and executed, his sister became a fugitive, he was forced to sell his conscience for his and sister's lives and, as a cherry on the top of this cake, fell in love with the daughter of his captor. And died trying to save her... His story is sooooo sad, but it makes me feel for this character fully. Also, he is the king of whump because the half of the drama he is injured and suffers from his wounds. The whole sad story of this guy is analyzed by me here, here and here.

Drama: The King Loves /왕은 사랑한다 Character: Moo-suk Screentime: Minor Koreans, obviously, like this type of characters, too, so there is another Dragon of the main villain, Moo-suk. In his free from dirty deeds time he h̶e̶l̶p̶s̶ ̶o̶l̶d̶ ̶l̶a̶d̶i̶e̶s̶ ̶c̶r̶o̶s̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶r̶o̶a̶d̶ literally saves cute children and restores self-confidence of young ladies. And then he falls in love, rethinks his life and dies from the hand of his master. Predictable and sad. Still a memorable guy, though. 50 shades of a Byronic Hero

Drama: The Wolf / 狼殿下 Character: Chu Youwen Screentime: Main A Mowgli boy was adopted by a wicked emperor, brought up like a cruel beast and was forced to do some dirty stuff for the emperor. He is mysterious, severe and you never know what's on his mind. As a true Byronic hero. He is some kind of Dragon, too, but it's a Chinese drama and he is a main hero in it, that's why he doesn't really do anything bad during the series. His soul is kind and his heart is pure, but he hides it from his love and deals with all of his problems on his own. It's the reason why all of this drama is a masochistic tango between him and his love. Whump lovers will be happy, too, because he is constantly in chains, pierced by arrows like a hedgehog or works as a slave in mines. As any other Dragon, he has a BE.

Drama: Lost You Forever /长相思第一季 Character: Xiang Liu Screentime: Secondary A mysterious demon general, whose name makes everyone shake in fear. A former demon slave, who is true to his word enough to fight for his benefactor even if he knows crystal clearly that it's hopeless and he and his army will die in the end. A man who has huge problems with expression of his emotions in a socially approved way. Edward Cullen of Chinese dramaland. He is enigmatic, with thick vibes of a bad guy, yet very loyal to his benefactor as well as his love and very selfless. SPOILER TO SEASON 2: because of this loyalty he will die and the love of his life will never-ever find out about anything he has done for her during the story.

Drama: My Journey to You /云之羽 Character: Gong Shangjue Screentime: Secondary A guy was through trauma in his childhood and it made him look intimidating and unfeeling. A tsundere is born! He coped with his trauma by taking extra responsibilities for everything and everyone and turned to be a walking killing machine instead of a man. But an enemy assassin comes to his life and teaches him how to be a human once more. It's a painful experience, but it`s necessary in order to grow up as a character and is beautifully fulfilled. It was a great joy to know that he survives at the end of the story, it's a rare thing for this type of characters, so even if there is season 2 someday, I will not watch it in order not to spoil my impression of the first one. I wrote about him detailed here, here, here and here.

Drama: Princess Agents / 特工皇妃楚乔传 Character: Yan Xun Screentime: Secondary It's the transformation story, too, like a previous one, but this time it's transformation from an ordinary man to a villain. Prince Yan Xun is a hostage colony prince in a metropolis empire, but he enjoys a noble life along with other nobility youth. The society around him is awful, each of these noble youths is a psycho who appreciate human hunt and so on, but cheerful and easy-going Yan Xun doesn't think their bloodthirstiness could turn against him. When relationship between the metropolis and the colony become tense, though, Yan Xun's friends of yesterday are happy to drink his blood. He loses his whole family and, insanely longing for revenge, slowly turns to one of those monsters himself.

Drama: A Journey to Love / 一念关山 Character: Li Tongguang Screentime: Minor This guy has got a very realistic personality and background: he is a bastard who was deprived of mother's love since he was a child. The first circumstance made him power-hungry, scheming and outwardly emotionless, the second one made him longing for mother's love on insanely level. So he is invincible outwardly, but turns into a teary mess when it's about his female tutor, who is a mother figure for him. The contrast between these two personalities is enormous and makes this character very alive and interesting. During the drama he will not cope with his Oedipus complex but circumstances will solve this problem for him.

A pure-hearted hero

Drama: Creation of the Gods Ⅰ / 封神三部曲 Character: Ji Fa Screentime: Main It's maybe strange to find this type of characters in the list of my favorite types, but morality and selflessness of a character is very important for me, too. This story is some kind of King Arthur's legend, but in a Chinese way. The emperor is bewitched by a demon and is bringing the kingdom to it's downfall, the Gods are here to find the savior with the help of a magic scroll that can be opened only by a true king. Ji Fa, a hero of this story, doesn't care about scrolls, but his heart is loyal to his kingdom and to his family (in this very order). He genuinely wants to help his friend-prince to be a king his kingdom deserves and, despite awful things that were done to him and his family, doesn`t harden his soul and betray his ideals. And, I suppose, although he isn't aware of this, he IS the future King Arthur of China. Interesting character decisions

Drama: The Legends/招摇 Characters: Jiang Wu Screentime: Minor This character is something like a rival of the male lead. He is a xinmo - an inner demon of some other character and represents the darkest features of a human's soul. He is a ruthless killer, a dark sorcerer without conscience, but what was very unique, being literary the worst part of a human personality, he values his assistants a lot and genuinely cares for them. A villain is usually a lone wolf. He doesn't trust anyone and doesn't value anyone, his loneliness is usually his weakness and a key to his downfall. So I was pleasantly surprised that sometimes a villain is capable of building healthy relationships with his subordinates.

Drama: Sh**ting Stars / 별똥별 Characters: Do Soo-hyuk Screentime: Minor

This guy truly surprised me. Firstly, he is supposed to be something like a third wheel in relationships of the main couple, but he just calmly got a refusal from the female lead, said "OK" and, absolutely relaxed, proceeded to live his life further. It's something unbelievable for me, because I used to see the insanity caused by an unrequited love to be the plot engine of a lot of dramas. Secondly, he is well-written as a character, straightforward, principled and has tsundere-ish or Byronic vibes - all the character features that I like =) Part 3 will be about other interesting types of relationship, mostly between men.

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