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cumbunnywitch · 9 months

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Red Sun, Pink Moon Chapter 4

Hey so normally I do this on Fridays but my power went out thanks to some massive storm that took out power to like half a million people yesterday. Anyway, here's the Tumblr post for chapter four (I think Chapter 3 is missing on Tumblr but if you wanna read it it's on AO3)

Again, it's gonna look way better over there, so I recommend you look there if you can!

(Content warning: Physical Abuse)

"Karalin Denella! In my study!"

Kara visibly recoiled in her bedroom. The mansion was large, but her father's voice carried like a wolf's howl. He had only just returned home after nearly two months in the capital on business. It seemed like this was the end of her summer of fun with her mother.

She knew better than to wait for him to come get her though, and she bolted off her bed towards her father's study. "Yes sir, I'm here. Wha-"

"Explain this!" He shouted again, throwing down the letter from Bremerton.

"I'm not sure what you mean, father. I scored second overall, and first in technique." Kara tried to explain, but she could only see the bulging veins on her father's temple.

"This is completely unacceptable! You are a Denella. My legacy is not to be tarnished with your insolent excuses!" He grabbed the paper and waved it around again, gold bordering flashing in the lamplight.

"Father, the only explanation I can think of is that the proctors were not impartial, and decided to grade Lilia higher as a handicap for her status."

The look in Darius's eyes felt like it could burn through steel. Kara did her best to hold herself up; inside, though, she felt like her stomach was in a blender.

"You would blame the proctors and the headmaster for your own failure? The indignity of your excuses are beyond unacceptable. I struggle to believe you're even my daughter." The poison in his words brought the first tear to Kara's eyes.

"Don't you dare cry, you've got no excuse," Darius barked at her. "If you want a reason to cry, I'll give you one."

Kara stepped back, which only seemed to enrage him further. Then, her mother's words came back to her and she decided to fight fire with fire. "Well, dad, at least we're the same now. From what I hear you were second every year you attended."

The smirk was quickly wiped off her face, however, when her father's palm clapped against her cheek. Kara fell to the ground in a heap, clutching her face. "No child of mine should ever dare make the mistake to believe themself better than I. Get out."

He pointed to the door, and Kara scrambled backwards, tears running from reddened eyes. His ring had cut her cheek, where blood was starting to drip.

"Get OUT!" He yelled again. Kara fell as the door opened behind her. Her mother entered the room, her fist clenched and surrounded in a ball of ice.

"Darius, calm yourself, before you do something you regret." The cold calmness in her voice did not betray the building rage. True to form, the woman sometimes nicknamed the Ice Witch brought an aura of chill when she readied for any kind of a conflict.

Darius scowled at her, but lowered his hand.

"Touch my daughter again, and they won't find any of the pieces." She threatened. After a moment, she turned to Kara and knelt, helping her back up.

"Kara, darling, go upstairs please. We'll talk shortly." Her hand brushed against her bloody cheek, and Kara could feel the cool touch pulling some of the heat and pain away from her face. She walked away, closing the door behind her.

Before it could close, she could hear her father start to speak again. "You'll never be able to take her from me, Sidra. I own her."

A few hours passed before her mother returned with a knock at the door.

"Kara, dear? May I come in?" She asked, cracking the door just a hair.

"Yes," The girl whimpered out, not bothering to remove her face from the pillow.

"It's going to be okay sweetie. He won't bother you anymore, I promise." Sidra sat on the edge of the bed, stroking her daughter's hair and back.

"I'm going to take you back to school tomorrow. I think being back at the Academy might be better for you right now, with the state he's in. It's only a few weeks early..."

Kara rolled enough to look at her mother from just one eye. "What's going to happen?"

Sidra looked down at her with a sad smile. "I don't know yet honey. I don't want you to worry about that right now. Focus on your studies, no one can take you from me. Do you understand that?"

"Yea. Thank you mom. I'm sorry.." Kara couldn't hold back the sob anymore. She pushed her face into the pillow and cried hard while her mother rubbed her back.

"Oh.. Oh sweet Karalin.. You have nothing to be sorry for. This is not your fault."

They stayed like that for awhile, until Kara finally found the strength to sit up, hug her mother, and cry some more. Tomorrow, they would take a carriage back to Bremerton.

"En garde. Pret. Allez!" Metal flashed suddenly in the light. The whipping sound of the blades through the air, the delicate clinking noises that followed parry after parry before finally someone made contact.

"Arret!" Came the call from the judge. "Touch, blue." He said, pointing the Jarett. That was it, the match was decided.

"Hey, good shit Lils!" He said, removing his mask. Lilia removed hers as well, shaking the older boy's hand.

"Honestly I was scared as hell at the end there, that wind enchantment is crazy!" She said, laughing back. They had ended their practice session with a real, honest match. It wasn't the first time they’d sparred, but it was the first time Lilia had gotten so close to beating her teammate like that.

It took awhile to get her head around the scoring system, but it was essentially first to fifteen touches. They had ended their first three-minute period at four to two, in Lilia's favor, but Jarett quickly came back in the second period to rocket the score up to eight to thirteen. In two quick rounds, he finished the match.

"You have gotten so much better at this though, you'll get the hang of that one soon. Maybe some day you'll even beat me." Jarett laughed, nudging Lilia with his elbow.

"Pssh, only if you throw it, like with the first six points." She pushed back, barely nudging him.

"Oh you uh, you noticed that huh? Well hey I just figured you could use the confidence!" Jarett laughed nervously, looking up at the rafters.

"You don't have to do that, you know. I'm a quick study and you just keep giving away your secrets." She nudged him again, putting more of her weight into it.

"Oh, what arcane secrets have you delved into by reading my book, Junior Mage Lilia?"

"Well, when you feint left your elbow twitches right. Why do you think I always parry those? Also, your back foot comes off the ground during your clockwise parries. Your eyes flick down when you thrust low. And, last one, your front foot moves just a little bit more to the right when you slash high." Lilia looked up at him with the deadest expression she could think of. The disbelief on Jarett's face could have been a painting.

"How did you.."

"I looked at Georgia's notebook. The only one I actually got was the elbow thing, I can barely keep up with everything else. You're really good at this!" She said, her face finally cracking into a smile that had found its home across her lips.

Jarett laughed loudly, and half the fencing club stopped to look at the two before finally continuing on their own. Lilia had made friends with nearly everyone, though there were still some snobs who just didn't want to be friends with anyone, regardless of status or name.

"Alright Lils, you got me, that was good. C'mon, let's get out of here." They finished setting their equipment back in lockers and racks before exiting the club room. Lilia had finally gotten some new clothes to work out in- some tight-fit shirts in various colors, and a few pairs of knee-length shorts with just a bit of stretch in them.

Jarett walked her back to the dorms, as was their tradition by this point. Near enough eight weeks of practicing nearly every day had done a lot to make them friends, even ignoring the camaraderie of being no-names.

"Hey, since you did do pretty good this time, how about we go to that place in town I mentioned awhile back? On me, I've got to congratulate you somehow."

Lilia thought about it for a moment. She'd gone out to town a few times by this point, no longer content to hole-up in her room for months on end. But they were always short trips, and she always had a way out just in case. This would be different.

"You know what.. Sure. You've been asking me for awhile, why not?" Lilia giggled, smiling back at him.

"Alright, I'll go get changed! It's casual but not like ultra casual, you know? Just uhh.. wear something you want I guess?" Jarett was already walking away by the time he started talking. He was strange.

But Lilia didn't mind strange. He was fun and full of energy and actually made her feel like a person again. She went up to her suite and cleaned the sweat and grime off, and changed into a long blue skirt and white blouse. It felt good to have other clothes for once. The school robes weren't terrible, but discovering fashion was definitely something that brought Lilia joy.

Lilia met Jarett outside her dorm as he pushed at leaves using his signature wind magic. "Hey, ready to go?" She asked. He nearly fell off his seat on the decorative bricks of the dorm wall.

"Hi yes. Yes, I'm ready, let's go!" Jarett guided them towards the carriages meant to take students into town for a small fee, walking a step ahead the entire way.

"So, I have a question for you. What kind of person do you like?" He asked, breaking the silence. In the same motion, he paid the toll and opened the door for Lilia. They sat across from one another on the hardly-sufficient two-person benches.

"I'm not really sure what you mean? Like friends? I guess, anyone who's at least kind of smart, nice, gets it when I don't understand a joke or something." Lilia scrunched her face up, a little confused.

"No I mean like.. Romantically." Jarett's eyes refused to meet hers as the carriage started off. It was a short ride to town, only about 5 minutes or so, but it was suddenly a very tense ride.

"Umm.. I don't.. really know. I've never really had-" Lilia paused. She had, in fact, had a crush. The memory made her wince.

"I.. Jarett are you trying to ask me out, halfway through us going to town to eat?"

"I think I did." Jarett said, understanding that this might have been a mistake.

"Jarett, that's.. okay first, don't do that to people, I think this might be called entrapment, but I also know that you know I could blow this carriage sky high." Lilia sighed and put her hand on his knee.

"Listen. You're my friend, probably my best friend, actually. I don't want to ruin that between us, alright?"

"I get it, yea. I'm sorry, we can still go to eat, or I can take you back it's no problem." Jarett said, his eyes still low.

"Hey. Look at me." Lilia snapped the fingers in her other hand. "I still think you're cool as hell. But the main issue is that I'm not into boys."

"Wait, really?" Jarett's eyes shot up to meet Lilia's.

"Yea, I'm mostly into girls. There's some boys that I think are hot but like, not enough to date."

"No no, I don't think you get it Lilia. You are the fifth lesbian I've had a crush on."

They both looked at each other, mouths agape. In an instant, they were jostling the carriage with laughter, quite literally hunched over. They didn't stop laughing before the driver opened the door to let them out. They were still giggling about the fact that this was not only Jarett having a crush on five separate lesbians, but that he totally did have a curse that would only be lifted when he was asked out by another guy.

By the time they had gotten to the restaurant, their spirits had been fully raised, and they ordered enough meat pies to feed the rest of the club. The carriage driver told them off for making the cab smell of gristle, but it hardly mattered at this point.

Kara hadn't left her room since she arrived. It had been three days since her father's hand had left a red welt, and an ugly green-blue bruise on left cheek. Her makeup could hide the bruise, though it stung to put it on, but it hardly helped the still-swollen bump and the healing cut. She had run out of food the food she had squirreled away from the cafeteria, and needed something to eat.

As she left her dorm building, she could hear laughter. Familiar laughter. "Fuck," she whispered. Kara absolutely did not need to be seen by anyone who knew her right now. There was no avoiding being seen, however, and bolting back into the dorm would only drawn more attention. She puts on a stern face and simply starts walking an avoidant path. After a bit of time, she stops hearing laughter. She looks over her shoulder with a makeup mirror, and sees that Lilia and the boy she's with have simply stopped on the walkway. Kara didn't bother to look longer for details, and simply started walking faster.

By the time she gets to the cafeteria, she is holding back tears. The feeling of loneliness has fully set in. It'll be ten days, at least, before Kella and Luna get back from their own break and another four after that before the fall semester begins for their third year. Two weeks. Two weeks before she can return to some kind of 'normal' again.

Kara feels the sting of her tears slowly fall down her face as she nibbles what would normally be considered an absolutely delightful blueberry muffin.

"Oh, hello Miss Karalin. You look rather upset, is everything alright?"

Kara's stomach did a backflip. No. No no no no, not him. Not now. Delax was quite possibly, the last person she wanted to see or hear. It was a three-way tie between him, her father, and Lilia fucking Quinn, and she is zero for two on the day.

"Yes, Professor," she lied. She did not want to get into it with him. "I just received some unfortunate news is all."

Kara hid the bump on her face with her hand, and took another bite of her muffin.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Delax replied, placing his hand on her shoulder while standing behind her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood straight up like a cactus, and a chill ran down her spine. "If you need to talk, my office is open for you."

Delax left to go get a bit of dinner of his own. Kara didn't bother staying. She gathered the rest of her wrapped pastries and practically sprinted out of the building. She walked as casual-looking as she could back to her dorm building, patting her tears while trying not to ruin her makeup. She opened the door only to see, yet again, Lilia, talking with two other girls.

Zero for three. Luckily, that pink haired little shit was looking the other way, and she made a dash for the stairs.

"Kara?"

"Leave me alone you fucking no-name!" She replied, the tears immediately starting back up. She ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

"Kara wait!" Lilia yelled after her. She almost stopped. The instinct to stop and pour her eyes out on her former best friend's shoulder was strong, but the fear at becoming a social pariah was stronger, and so her legs kept pushing. She didn't slow down when she reached the landing. She didn't stop until her door slammed behind her and she fell in a heap on her bed.

"Yea he really did! It was hilarious, I can't believe I was his fifth!" Lilia laughed with the other girls, whom Jarett had introduced her to. They were two of the girls that had a nearly identical reaction to Jarett's confession, and were going into fourth year along with him. They laughed for awhile at the sheer absurdity of how this boy managed such a feat, each suggesting that the curse was entirely real and guessing various ways he might be able to break it. He was a good guy, however, and everyone got to remain friendly. Sasha was actually on the fencing team, but had taken the summer off to visit family.

They had just finished up their conversation when they heard the dorm doors open. Technically, Lilia wasn't supposed to be in this building, and would need to hide should the dorm staff actually show up as to avoid any trouble.

It wasn't any kind of staff though, but a tear-stained Kara, carrying an armful of cafeteria snacks. Her makeup had worn away now, and the ugly bruise beneath was getting pretty clear. She definitely did not look like her usual overly-confident-reaching-arrogant self, though. Lilia knew Kara hated her by now, but the urge to be a decent human being overrode any reason to think about not speaking up.

"Kara?" She called out. The redhead replied with her usual poison, but being called a no-name didn't seem to hit so hard when the everyone else never really seemed to care.

Sasha tried to speak up, to make sure Lilia was okay, but Lila didn't care. "Kara, wait!" She yelled out as the girl nearly tripped on her own feet up the stairs. A few seconds later, a door slammed on the second floor.

"Okay, what the fuck was that?" Lilia asked, thinking either of her new friends might know something.

"Nobody really knows. She's been stuck in her room for a few days, hasn't really come out since she got back." Sasha replied, a hint of disdain in her voice.

"Wait," Lilia shook her head. "When did she even get back? Her father takes her back from breaks, I think. Tradition or something."

"Like... three days ago? The Ice Witch dropped her off." Sasha chimed in.

"The.. Ice Witch?" Lilia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yea, Sidra Denella. She's a war-mage, best Ice Magic user in the kingdom, maybe the world." Sasha said, matter-of-factly. "She's Kara's mom. I hear she's actually a real sweet lady, shame she raised a girl like that."

"I mean.. I met her dad." Lilia said, looking at the staircase, deciding whether or not to take the chance.

"You met Darius? And fucking lived?" Zeliim asked, shock clear on her face. "That guy hates anyone he thinks isn't good enough. Like, other legacy families that have been around longer than him, he's honestly a complete prick." She paused and the girls looked at each other.

"Okay, yea, I can see how Kara turned out like that." Sasha finally conceded. "Listen though, she probably needs some space. She's had that bump since before she got back, just chill out. We know you used to hang out a lot, but you might be too much for her right now, alright?"

Lilia listened to the older girl. She didn't quite get emotions sometimes, or when someone needed space or to talk or what she should do when they did want to talk. She knew what loneliness and isolation looked like, though, and couldn't just do nothing.

Lilia turned back towards the girls. "Can you two do me a favor? Please?" She held her hands up, already pleading, and ready to beg should she need.

"Yea, we'll keep an eye on her. Raging bitch or not." Zeliim replied. Sasha reached down and grabbed Zeliim's hand.

"You're better than me, Z. But yes, we'll make sure she doesn't at least starve to death or jump out a window or something."

"Thank you. And uh... I guess sorry for making it weird, I know you said you were heading out." Lilia scratched the back of her head, trying her best to look innocent.

"Nah it's nothing. It was great meeting you though, feel free to stop by if you need anything. I'll actually be at any matches Z is at, so we'll see you around anyway."

"Well, thank you anyway. I'll see you around." They left the dorm together. Sasha and Zeliim walked down the path towards the carriages Lilia had just return on a few short hours ago. Lilia wasn't sure exactly where to go. Eventually, she walked back to her dorm. If Kara needed some space, Lilia would at least try to honor that.

#red sun pink moon #creative writing #original fiction #f/f romance #slow burn #physical abuse #content warning

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