#i tried to piece Anna’s outfit together with things she already has

[sparebutton]

Frozen friends going apple picking🍎

[spencesglasses]

sweet creature (spencer reid x f! reader) pt 2

a/n: ah yes, a case chapter. this was gonna be longer but i didn’t want it to just drag on and i just ended up cutting out some parts soooo enjoy this 3k word chapter of y/n using her big galaxy brain to solve a case with just a pinch of fluff w spence :)

part one | part three

It was only the beginning of the movie when the weight of the day hit her. She snuggled further into the couch, trying to gain some extra warmth. Spencer had his apartment so cold, she could nearly feel the chill creeping up her body. Her eyelids began to close shut slowly, and the sound of the television lulls her to sleep. She was far too tired to keep herself awake, so she hoped that Spencer didn’t mind if she rests, at least for a few minutes.

Spencer keeps his eyes glued to the television screen, having been making commentary throughout, he didn’t even notice Y/N fast asleep. “You know, it’s actually scientifically impossible for someone to-“ He turns his head to look at her, and she lets out a quiet snore. The TV’s sound was barely audible now, Spencer turning it down so it wouldn’t wake her. He stood up to his full height and the freshly cleaned floor squeaks as his feet carried him to the cupboard that held spare linens and duvets.

He laid a blanket over her figure gently, careful not to disturb her. Taking the extra blankets, he spread them out, making a makeshift bed on the floor below her. He flickered off the TV and all that could be heard was the pitter-patter of the rain against the windows. Spencer let the layers of blankets engulf him in warmth, letting his eyes fall heavy and drifts off to sleep.

The next morning, Y/N woke up to the vibrations of her phone ringing. It was Anna. Wait. I’m still on Spencer’s couch. Shit! I was asleep longer than I should have! She sits up, checking the time, “I’m late to work!”

She tossed the blanket off her and tried to push herself off the couch. But then she sees him. Spencer curled up with a blanket that was much too small for him. She stifled a snicker and covered him with the blanket she was once using.

Before Y/N could leave, she noticed a pen and notepad sitting atop his desk. Maybe I should leave a note, she thought. She grabbed the pen and the black ink slid smoothly across the page.

Sorry to leave so soon… and for falling asleep during the movie. Lets reschedule? Keep in touch, 187! xx

-Your favorite barista

She heard Spencer stir in his sleep, and just before he could wake up, she was gone.

-

“Surprise?” Garcia questioned. “What surprise? What’s going on-” and then she realizes. “Oh, Coffee shop girl! You’re the girl from the coffee shop!”

Y/N hid a giggle behind her hand as she stood. “You told them about me?”

Out of the corner of her eye, she can see JJ’s head shoot up. “Yeah, Spence,” she says, tilting her head at him. “You told us about her?”

“I told Garcia,” he grumbles.

Spencer can feel the five pairs of eyes on him. He didn’t think that not telling the team about her was such a big deal. Why was it such a problem he kept something to himself for once? They practically live together. Spencer just wanted to keep someone who makes him feel like a person. He wanted to keep her so close to him because he finally had the chance to think about something other than work and the cases, and the people he couldn’t save. He wanted to be someone; to feel normal. In the time that it’s silent, he understood why Y/N didn’t tell him, but he sure as hell wishes that she did.

Spencer’s eyes flicker back and forth between her and the team.  “We should focus on the case.”

-

The first case Y/N works on with a team is fairly close, which she appreciated. She wasn’t particularly fond of plane rides but that was something she had to get used to. Joy, who she found out is Rossi’s daughter, had been writing a piece about violence against women on campus, and noticed a series of mishap in the area. After finding what she believed was more of a case than a possible story, she brought attention to a series of disappearances to the team’s attention once a young woman by the name of Bahni Desai had gone missing.

“4 cases in 9 years.” Derek speaks into the cell, sitting in the driver’s seat. “How come this hasn’t been on our radar?”

“Because the disappearances were in different states with different M.O’s.” Rossi explained over the speaker.

Y/N claimed her spot on the middle seat in the back, reviewing a case file. “The first missing woman was Kathy Miller in 2006,”

Morgan questioned. “So what’s the plan once we land on campus?’

“Track Bahni’s movements. Campus police checked her room, she’s not there. They taped it off for you.” Hotch instructed.

“What about her cell phone?” asked Spencer.

Y/N shifted in her seat, passing the file to Spencer and whispered to him. “It’s kind of cold in here, don’t you think?”

He turned ever so slightly to look at her. “I have my jacket in my bag if you need it,”

She dug to find the much-needed jacket and threw it over her shoulders. It was his FBI issued jacket, tapered at the sleeves and a bit oversized. It smelt like him, she noted. Cinnamon and coffee. She offered him a gentle smile. “Thanks, Spence.”

Spencer returned the smile, handing her back the file.

“It just pinged in her room overnight,” Garcia informed. “No credit card activity. I’ve confirmed with all the ticket agencies she didn’t take a boat, bus, blimp, or plane last night. Oh! The Dean's office just sent us her file from Judy Temple College. It looks like- Oh dear…” She trails off.

“Looks like what, Garcia?” Y/N urged, tugging the jacket closer to her.

“She voluntarily withdrew!”

-

“She definitely didn’t plan on leaving town,” Spencer surveyed Bahni’s abandoned closet. “Her clothes, shoes, and luggage are all still here.”

“Well, it looks like she was trying on different outfits,” said Morgan.

Y/N shuffled past Spencer, standing next to Morgan, and observed the clothes laid out. “Miniskirts, heels. Seems like she was going out.” Y/N added.

“But why not take her phone?” Reid asked, picking up Bahni’s cell. “She’d need it to meet up with her friends.”

She spun on her heel and inspected her desk, noticing two chemistry textbooks. “Unless her friends were already here,” she suggests, her finger brushes against the lettering on the cover, then beckons Morgan to look at the books.

She turned the cover of the textbook, Morgan doing the same to the one to their left. Y/N pushes out a sharp exhale out of her pursed lips. Paddy Morris, she read.

Morgan is the first to speak. “Same textbooks, different names. “She wasn’t studying alone.”

Spencer moves closer to the pair and peers over Y/N’s shoulder. “That could be the last person who saw her.”

-

Y/N trailed behind Morgan and Reid with her hands tucked into the pockets of Spencer’s jacket, and her eyes wandered around the halls of the building. This is going to be her first interview. She wasn’t nervous, per se, but her mind couldn’t help but fill with possible scenarios. Don’t mess this up, Y/N. Only ask questions relevant to the case and remember, don’t say the wrong thing.

“Nice jacket,” Morgan commented, slowing down to reach Y/N’s pace.

“Nice face,” she joked, reaching up to tap his cheek.

Y/N quickened her pace, walking past Spencer, and she could practically feel his stare burning into the back of her head. She found the correct door, and it was Reid and Morgan’s turn to trail behind her. Finding Paddy’s correct door number, she taps her knuckles against the hard wood. “Paddy Morris, this is the FBI,”

“Very funny, Josh,” They heard through the door.

Y/N turned to the men behind her and they shrugged their shoulders in unison. She scrunched up her nose, knocking once more.

The trio held up their badges as the door flung open, exposing the girl. “You’re not Josh.”

“Great observation,” Y/N nodded.

Paddy opened the door wider for them, and they took their spot on the three chairs to the side of her bed. “We have a few questions about Bahni Desai,” Morgan told her. “Is there any information you have that might help us?”

She let out a sharp exhale. “I was with her last night. She was fine,”

“Any idea why she left her cell phone in her room?”

“We didn’t take purses, and we didn’t have pockets in our skirts.” Paddy draws out.

Y/N saw Spencer shift in his seat. “Ok, walk us through the night, you guys were studying before you went out?”

“Yeah, um,” her voice is shaky. “I knew about this party. She didn't want to go.”

It was Y/N’s turn to ask a question. “Did you two come back to the dorm?”

Not too bad, not too bad, she reassures herself.

“No. I made her stay.”

“Why?”

She gulped, looking over their shoulders and out the window. “There was this tennis guy that I’d been trading tweets with. He said he’d show up, but he was late, and then the later it got, the more I drank.”

“How much did you have?” asked Reid.

“Her, I don’t know. Me, a lot. Until Peter arrived…” she trails off. “She told me she was going right after that.”

“Did anyone walk out after her, maybe try to escort her?”

“Not that I saw,” she frowns, face streaked with tears and day old mascara wiped beneath her eyes. “God, it’s my fault, isn’t it?”

Morgan reassured her. “No, it’s not. But there’s still a way you can help us.”

She perked up, wiping the stray tears away. “Anything. Name it.”

Y/N straightens up and asks, “Where was the party?”

-

“This was the last spot she was seen. The next camera is 100 feet down,” Spencer pointed forward. “Which makes this the abduction zone,”

Y/N walks with him, investigating what the team has found, all thanks to Garcia, Bahni’s last location before she went missing. “Alexandria police searched the buildings, nothing was there.”

“Well, if she got in the car with him, they would have shown up on the camera down the street.”

Her eyebrows knit together, suddenly coming to a stop. “Right, so it would be too risky,” she looked to the camera, and observed the shops behind them. “Just shoving her in the trunk of a car. And out in the open like this? Someone would have been bound to see them,”

“Well, that leaves this.” Spencer gestures to the near alleyway. It’s empty. Secluded. Low chance of anyone seeing the attack.

Spencer and Y/N shared a look, walking further into the alley. His phone went off, signifying that he’s gotten a new message, and she watches him as he fetches his phone out of his coat pocket. She could see the wrinkle between his brows that he would when he was worried about something,

She stops in her tracks and gently places her hand on his bicep. “Is everything okay?”

“Actually, no. My mom’s not doing so well,” Spencer says, biting the inside of his cheek. “The doctors have had to change her medicine 3 times to try to stabilize the schizophrenia,”

Y/N knew about his mom and her conditions. He had mentioned it a few times to her when he would go into her shop during her break. She let out a soft exhale and rubbed languid circles in his arm as a comfort. “Spencer, why didn’t you tell me… or the team?”

“I- I didn’t want to bother you,” he averts his eyes

“You could never bother me,” Y/N’s voice is hushed. “You can never bother any of us, got it? How long has this been going on?”

Spencer’s frown deepens, looking down to the asphalt beneath their feet. “It’s gotten really bad the past few weeks.”

“As soon as we’re done here, you need to go help her. She needs you,”

Y/N watches as his eyes narrow, looking at her this time. “I know. Right now so does Bahni.” he said firmly.

She watches him as he moves to leave the alley, and a frown etched on her face. Y/N knew he would rather keep something to himself than bother anyone about his problems, but this was different. She just wanted to be there for him, to help him, to make sure he doesn't feel alone. He was her friend, after all. Spencer turned to her, looking at her expectantly, and she followed him.

“Alright, let's think this through,” Spencer said.

Y/N added. “Okay, so, if he took her this way, it is a busier street,” they both observed the cars passing. “The traffic was much lighter last night, but it would be a risk to abduct someone in plain sight.”

“So he was able to control a drunk woman and it didn’t look suspicious.”

“He probably just put his arm around her and walked off, and was too drunk to realize she was in danger.” she replied.

“You know, if this was just about the assault, he could have done that back in the alley. I think this gotta be some sort of long-term play,”

“Then he’s been watching Bahni,” she makes eye contact with Spencer. “Looking for the perfect opportunity.”

“Well, he certainly found it last night. She’s a straight-A student who never drinks and rarely goes out.”

Y/N nods, walking back to the alley to inspect it once more. She eyes the spot where the suspect was last documented, trying to think of anything that could possibly help them, and then it hits her. “Spence, tell Garcia to look for offenders with precursor crimes.”

“On it,”

-

The rest of the investigation went by smoothly and the team rescued Bahni successfully, arresting Tom Larson for abduction of Bahni Desai and Sam Burnett for the murder of Kathy Miller in the process. By the end of the night, Y/N stayed behind as the majority of the team left, having to finish paperwork for Hotch. She heard shuffling, and it brought her attention to Spencer sitting on the edge of his desk. Following his gaze, she noticed a framed photo of JJ’s newborn perched on her desk. Then she examined him closely, noticing visible bags under his eyes, and his hair slightly disheveled. She gathers the loose paper into a folder, then places them into the drawer of her desk.

“You were that little once,” Y/N says, catching Spencer’s attention.

“It seems impossible, doesn’t it,” he smiles fondly at the photo. “That we all start out so helpless.”

Y/N got up from her chair, joining Spencer at his desk. “Yeah, well, we all end the same way.”

A moment of looming silence passes between them and Spencer stiffens, suddenly becoming hyper aware of the proximity. It’s not that he didn’t like it. It made him more aware of the flutter and flit of the butterflies in his stomach. That he didn’t like.

Y/N is the first one to break the silence. “You’re gonna call your mom?”

Spencer is brought back to reality by the sound of her voice, and he’s back at ease. Y/N did a good job at doing that; easing him. He furrowed his brows, checking his watch. “It’s not too late there, is it?”

She gently grabs a hold of his wrist to check for herself. “Shouldn’t be,” she whispers.

Y/N let her arm fall to her side. “I wanted to tell you, by the way.”

“Hmm?”

“That I was joining the team,” she crosses her arms over her chest. “I wanted to tell you.”

“Why didn’t you?” he counters.

“I didn’t want to intrude. I thought it would’ve been weird if some girl from the coffee shop you go to just suddenly started working with you, but I guess that happened anyway,”

Spencer’s eyes flick down to her. “You’re not just some girl from the coffee shop,” he says slowly. “And if it makes you feel any better, I really enjoyed working with you today.”

Y/N’s lips curled upward, bumping his shoulder with hers. “Hmm, I guess we just make a good team,”

“Guess so,” Spencer says with a soft laugh that makes her heart swell. “You know, I actually didn’t mean to tell Garcia,”

“You didn’t?” She raised her brows.

He shook his head. “She saw your number written on my coffee cup.”

“I see,” she hummed.

There’s a moment of comfortable silence. Y/N scoots away from him slightly, barely realizing the closeness. Her stomach twists and tumbles within her, nerves spiking, trying to find words to add to the conversation. She finally looks at him and she feels heat creeping up her neck when she saw that he was already looking at her. And she finally says, “I guess I should be getting home,”

Spencer followed her movements, trailing behind her as she retreated to her desk. “Would you like a ride home?” she asks.

For a second, it is silent again. It’s clear to her he’s thinking way too into the question. “It’s no bother,” she adds, giving him a kind smile. “I promise.”

She held out her arm just like she did that morning and waited for him to link his arm with hers. He visibly relaxed, hooping his arm beneath hers. This is what he liked about Y/N, what drew him to her. She allowed him to break down his walls when he was with her, and he guesses that that was why he let himself be so comfortable with her because if he was being completely honest, he wouldn’t do this with anyone that wasn’t her. Yeah, he was close with JJ and Penelope, but the connection was just different. He just couldn’t put his finger on it, and for the first time, Spencer Reid didn’t know why.

-

taglist: @eevee0722 @ceeellewrites

[tiny-taepot]

wander (Jimin)

Genre: angst

Word Count: 1.4k

Summary: the more distant he gets, the more his eyes start to wander

a/n: It has been forever since I have last written something and I am so sorry, I hope you enjoy this piece! I will try to update ASAP - Joy

part one// part two

it had been three days since you had last texted Jimin, every text seemed to get more generic. It had been a rough three months for the two of you, the once warm and bubbly Jimin was now a cold and distant Jimin who wouldn’t look at you for more than three seconds. It had all started when he had came back from visiting his parents, he had only been gone for a week but when he came back it had almost felt like he had left for years and had forgot about you. You didn’t want to end this relationship, but the more and more he ignored you the more you thought that it would be impossible to fix whatever you two had left. 

“Jimin?” You waved, trying to get the attention of the day dreaming boy, he snapped out of his thoughts to look at you blankly. “Yes?” He answered dryly, you sighed as you repeated your question once more. “I was just asking where you wanted to go for lunch later.” Jimin widened his eyes, that was the most emotion his face has given you in awhile. “I can’t go for lunch...” He coldly replied, you looked at him confused, Jimin and you always book a day off during the week to get lunch together. It was to make sure that he could make time for you, no matter how busy it would get. “What do you mean you can’t? We always go out for lunch on Wednesday. It’s always been that way.” You reply, Jimin shrugs as he glances at his phone and starts to type, “things change, and I already made plans today.” He replies, keeping his eyes on his phone the whole time. You felt your heart break a little, he has never blown you off like this. Jimin always made time for you, even when he was super busy. “What is making you so busy that you can’t have lunch with your own girlfriend?” You asked, glaring at him, you couldn’t help but feel tears rushing to your eyes. “I’m meeting up with the new girl, it’s a work thing, you wouldn’t understand.” He answers, as he glances at you for a moment before returning to his phone and getting up. “I gotta go.” He says as he heads for the door. You were shocked that he was blowing you off to go meet another girl. You were never the jealous type, or at least you thought you weren’t, Jimin never gave you a reason to feel insecure, he had always made time and cherished you before. But now, you could feel that anger forming inside of you. 

-

Jimin headed towards the cafe where he saw Anna, he smile brightly at her as he waved his hand to catch her attention. Anna looked up and smiled as she got up from her seat to greet him, “what took you so long? I’ve been waiting for five minutes,” she laughs as Jimin chuckles back, “sorry, I had some troubles with my friend and he needed help so I had to help him.” He lied. Anna sits back down and opens the menu, “I’m just going to order something light, I’m trying to lose weight.” Anna smiles softly, hoping for a compliment about how skinny she looked. “Order whatever you want, you look so skinny you should eat more.” Jimin replied.

-

It had been over three hours since Jimin was out with his coworker for a lunch that should have ended two hours ago, you were starting to get worried, you texted him multiple times but no response. You thought that he might have went out with the guys for dinner, you knew it was bad to keep bothering him since it could make it worst for you and him. You decided to just calm down a bit, Jimin would have to come home eventually, and then you two could discuss how you have been feeling recently and all of this could be fixed. 

It was around two am and you were still awake, the side next to you on the bed was empty, Jimin had not come home yet. You looked at your phone, hoping there was a text explaining where he was, him reassuring you that he was safe and just sleeping over at Namjoon’s house because he got too drunk and didn’t want to bother you by making you pick him up. No reply. 

-

Jimin was now reading the many texts you had sent him while he was out with Anna, he rolled his eyes, he was annoyed with how you couldn’t just leave him alone. He started to type a message back to you, he stopped typing once he heard the shifting of the bed. “Babe, are you going to go to sleep? It’s late.” the voiced called out, “I will in a sec,” Jimin replied as he placed his phone down and returned to bed. 

-

You woke up to an empty bed, Jimin didn’t come home last night. You opened your phone hoping that he had texted you back letting you know where he had crashed for the night. No response. He did read them though, you groaned loudly, you wanted to get out of the house for once and just get your mind off of Jimin, you thought you might just message your friend.

(Y/n) 9:00 : Hey Izzy, I need to get out of the house today to get my mind off of things, you wanna meet up for coffee?

(Izzy) 9:03 : yes girl! Let’s meet up at the coffee place we always go to downtown, around 9:30? 

You smiled while you read her response, Izzy was always there for you no matter what, she had been your friend since you two were little and you guys have never been apart since. You rubbed your eyes as you tried to get out of bed, you looked at the clock and realized that you needed to get ready quickly if you wanted to make it to the coffee shop by 9:30. You did a simple make up look, covering your eye bags from your restless sleep. You put on a hoodie and headed out, you were never really into dressing up, ever since you dated Jimin the outfits got more and more comfortable. Jimin never had a problem with that though, he loved how natural you were and how you were always ready before him. 

-

You sat patiently while you waited for Izzy to arrive at the coffee shop, Izzy had always been the extra friend, she was the literal opposite of you. Every occasion she always made a dramatic entrance and she always overdressed for every occasion. Izzy was always the centre of attention and she made sure she was, you envied her, although you were never someone who looked for attention. You preferred to enjoy parties at the corners and just observe everything going on. Izzy walked in and smiled at you while she waved at you, she was wearing a beautiful coral dress that fit her body perfectly, she had also just recently come back from a very expensive vacation at Italy. You were so jealous that she was able to travel all the time. “Hey y/n! It’s been too long, how have you been?” She grinned as you tried to fake a smile but inside you wanted to burst out in tears and let her know what was really going on. “Not good...Jimin and I are going through something right now” you replied looking down, you didn’t want to look her in the eyes since you were so close to bursting into tears. Her smile dropped, she widened her eyes as she gasped “oh my, y/n, I thought you two were doing so well” Izzy reaches over to grab your hand and rub it. “I thought so too, but ever since he came back from his trip he’s been acting so distant.” You sobbed as you tried to control yourself, you didn’t want the people around you to stare. 

“I think he’s cheating on me...”

[exauhstedsunflower]

I Am Very Proud Of You

For @cynicalrainbows, a one shot featuring the idea that Catalina feels left out of mom!Jane’s pride in her so called kids.

This got long.

It’s been a while since the queens have reincarnated. They’ve long since passed most of their personal issues. They even settled in nicely to the current century. Anne and Kitty got jobs, working in a flower shop just down the road. Anna has picked up several volunteer shifts at a local animal shelter. Cathy is a tutor for adults at the neighborhood library. And Catalina works at a daycare, decidedly liking modern day kids over modern day adults. (They have all of the curiosity and none of the disbelief in her legitimacy as a former queen of England.)

And Jane, well, Jane is a stay at home mother. Kind of.

They live in the suburbs in a place where cost of living is pretty low, Kitty, Anne and Catalina make enough to cover their more indulgent purchases. Whereas the rest is covered by some anonymous donor, who they think is the reason they are even alive. There is no reason for Jane to have to get a job herself. Not to say she doesn’t have hobbies, she does occasionally visit the local art supplies stores, and sometimes she goes to the animal shelter with Anna. But she does actually prefer to stay home as an introvert.

As she does stay home most of the time, she takes up most of the household chores. She cleans, she cooks, she makes sure that there is order where there would normally be chaos. This also means that she’s taken on the more maternal place in the house. The others rely on her, whether they were reluctant to in the beginning or not.

Her biggest maternal habit is validating the other queens. She spent a lot of time in her last life being put down- they all had. The least she can do whilst being the glue that keeps their little family together is to make sure they all know they are doing great given the circumstances.

It’s a rather chaotic morning, she’s been running around like crazy. They all have, but her in particular trying to get everyone ready for the day.

“Jane!”

That’s Anne, upstairs and probably looking for her jacket, which is hanging on the end of the railing at the lower level.

“Down here love, come and get your jacket before you and Kitty are late!”

She speeds down, almost crashing into Anna, who’s rifling through her bag with a piece of toast in her mouth. When she asks what the woman is looking for, she seems to forget about the toast. Jane reaches out and catches it in a moment of astounding reflexes.

“Ah! Don’t get crumbs all over my carpet, please.”

“Sorry! Have you seen my-“

“Jane! I can’t find my-“

“Kitty! I found-“

“Cathy, you-!”

Jane snorts, leave it to those two to have half conversations and still understand each other.

“What is it, Anna?”

She snaps back to attention, having been distracted by the yelling upstairs. Impressive how those two have the capacity to be that loud given the way they haven’t slept in two days. Yes, Jane knows. And yes, Jane will be intervening if they try to make it a third.

“My wallet, I can’t find my wallet.”

“Have you checked the hoodie you wore yesterday?”

“Shi- Crap,” Anna quickly corrects herself in Jane’s presence, “I forgot about that, let me check.”

She races off to check the coat closet, which is where she’s stuck most of her hoodies in an attempt for space in her own closet.

It doesn’t take long for Jane to find something else to focus on. Anne is currently making an attempt to find her snack pack for the day. Now, this is something that unlike what you might think, is not Jane’s doing. She does not pack lunches and snacks for the women in the house, if they want that they can do so themselves. Jane places Anna’s toast on a paper towel and decides to help.

“Isn’t it in the lower cabinet? Could’ve sworn you all changed where you keep them.”

“Oh! We did!

She finds her bag, likely filled with sweets, and stuffs the sandwich she was making and a water bottle into it. Then she does the same for the three others.

“Oh, you’re making lunch for everyone.” She observes.

“Yeah, everyone’s running a bit late this morning and I’m ready. So, might as well.”

Jane smiles, “I’m proud of you. That’s really sweet.”

Anne immediately flushes and thanks her bashfully, she never did get used to the praise.

Kitty then runs into the room, claiming she is ready to go.

Her outfit is a little different today. But, also, Kitty’s outfits are always a little different. Today it’s red lumberjack pattern leggings and a green sweater. There are several silver accessories that compliment her choker with a silver ‘K’ charm hanging off of it. Her hair is in a messy bun, unlike yesterday when it was straightened.

“Jeez kid, is it Christmas already?”

Jane rolls her eyes at Anne’s comment. “I think you look cute, good job Kit.”

The girl beams at the compliment. Her sense of style has been a way of expressing autonomy, a way of showing that she has full control over her body. Jane is incredibly proud that the girl has found something to help her deal with her past trauma in a healthy way. Even if it means questionable but admittedly cute fashion choices.

Cathy and Anna pass by Jane, grabbing their lunches with a quick thanks to Anne. Anna is holding her wallet, so Jane supposes it was in fact in the pocket of her hoodie. Cathy grabs a to-go cup and fills it with coffee.

“Cathy, thank you for being the only one to not scream for me this morning. I’m proud. But have we got any sugar for your coffee?”

Jane doesn’t remember buying any, but she does recall running out yesterday.

“I picked some up on the way home, it’s in the top left cabinet.” Anna supplies.

“That’s great, Anna. Thank you.” Jane is using her Proud Mom Voice. Anna also gets a lot of praise from Cathy, who forgot to buy more and was about to have to drink bitter coffee. (Not that she would have minded, but she prefers it to be a bit sweeter during the day. Black coffee is for night time.) She also smiles at Jane for her comment on her independence.

With the coffee made, and everything needed for the day found, it’s time for them all to head out. Anne and Kitty can walk, and Anna drives Cathy to the library on her way to the shelter. Sometimes Jane walks with her cousins to the shop. She’ll pick up a bouquet for the house or a new plant for the garden and that’ll give her something to do for about a half hour of being home. But today she’s not feeling up for the walk, even if it is just down the road.

She does a headcount of everyone and mentally goes through the list of things to be done in the mornings. Everyone’s lunches are made. Anne and her things, Kitty and her choker, Anna and her bag, Cathy and her coffee, Catalina-

Catalina isn’t down yet. She drives the other car, so it’s not much of a hold up for the rest. They all attempt to grab something small to eat to take with them as Jane wonders where the oldest queen is.

Her relationship with Catalina is a little different. Catalina’s the oldest, the most regal and independent, she doesn’t need a mother. And while Jane has proudly claimed the mom friend title, she doesn’t want to cross any boundaries.

Of course she still checks in on her every once in a while, but she’s not as forthcoming in the mothering with her. They both seem rather content with the arrangement, seeing as they’re both the more mature one’s in the house. They tend to be the one taking care of the others, not being taken care of.

Just as Jane is about to check in to make sure Catalina is alright, the woman arrives amongst the rest. She looks a little happier than usual.

“Sorry for the hold up, I was caught up doing something.”

Jane’s about to ask what, but Cathy beats her to it.

“Oh, it’s nothing really. Just finished applying for that child care class.”

Everyone cheers. That’s something Catalina’s been putting off for a while now. She hasn’t done it yet in fear of being rejected or putting herself in a situation she’s not prepared for.

But this is a great step! Because Catalina’s end goal is to open her own daycare center, and having the credentials to back it is super helpful. And she’s already flushed at the reaction that she got, so maybe that's why when Jane places a hand on her arm and says she’s proud of her, Catalina freezes.

It was an instinct, honest. She’d never do that on purpose, it's quite honestly probably a little patronizing to the woman she holds in such high regard. It’s just that she’s been praising all of the rest of the queens all morning and she’s still in that mindset.

She pulls her hand away slowly, and Catalina shakes her head as if she’s trying to clear some thoughts, and they move on.

“Right, so, everyone out! You’ll all be late at this rate.”

Jane herds the rest to the door, seeing Catalina linger for a moment. But she catches Jane's eye and seems to brace herself before walking toward the door herself. Jane does not ask if she’s okay, she doesn’t want to overstep again.

“You all got ready and you’ll probably be on time! Great job, love you all, see you later!”

She gets a chorus of “Bye Mum!” back from all except one. A common joke among the queens, based on her role in the house. It honestly fills her with pride though, so she never refutes the moniker.

Jane tries to catch Catalina on her way out to wish her a good day; but the woman dodges her and races to her own car, leaving Jane worried she offended her friend.

-

Catalina presses submit and leans back in her chair with a deep breath. This is a big step for her. It’s a good thing, but it’s also a commitment. It does help with her long term plans though, so she’s willing to do it.

The class would only take her seven months to complete, and it’s all something she’s invested in, it shouldn't be this scary to start. But it is, and she can’t help but resent that she has no support.

She shakes that thought away as soon as it comes. Of course she has support. The queens are very supportive. She knows that when she tells them she finally applied they’ll all be very happy for her.

Happy, not proud.

She shouldn’t feel that way. She should be happy that she’s been given this second chance, happy that she’s able to spend it with her loving family. And she is! But she can’t help but feel slightly excluded.

“Jane!”

Catalina has half a mind to tell them to leave the poor woman alone. They’ve been calling for her all morning. But she does seem to enjoy that they need her so.

“Down here love, come and get your jacket before you and Kitty are late!”

“Jane! I can’t find-“

“Kitty, I found-“

She could never call for Jane like that. It’s more than likely she’d be judged for it. No, she’s independent. She’s the oldest, she doesn’t need Jane to take care of her. And honestly she does prefer to take care of herself. It’s not that that bothers her though.

It’s just that Jane always seems proud. Consistently, someone in the house is making her proud. Whether it be something small, like making a phone call; or something big, like getting their licenses. Jane always finds something to be proud of when it comes to all of the queens.

All except Catalina.

She’s honestly tried everything. She’s done the small things like make a big deal out of something menial and then finally doing it, to no avail.

(“Catalina, weren’t you supposed to make that call three days ago?”

Catalina bites her lip, hoping.

“Yeah, but it was making me nervous so I kept putting it off.”

That’s not even a lie. Catalina does in fact have a bit of anxiety surrounding phone calls. But usually she'd rather die than admit a fear. She hopes to receive some sort of reassurance out of this, as she’d had a rough week and this was pretty difficult. But instead she gets a frown.

“You shouldn’t put stuff like that off. If you need help with a phone call just ask.”)

Then she tried acting out, which truthfully made her feel quite childish and stupid. It didn’t work like it seems to work for Kitty or Anne, who Jane seems to have a soft spot for. But they’re family, Catalina reminds herself, real family.

(“I don’t wanna.”

Jane furrows her eyebrows, “What do you mean you don’t want to? You’ve been asking to cook this for weeks! I even set aside the ingredients.”

“Well, I changed my mind. I’m not cooking.”

She doesn’t get a gentle goading into whatever it is she changed her mind about suddenly, like Cathy or Anna would. No, this bout of unnecessary refusal to help out with dinner just lands her in hot water with Jane, who was already feeling a little stressed.

“All I ask is-“

Jane’s rant lasted about thirty minutes, and Catalina felt much like a child who was chided for disobedience all night.)

Needless to say, although she does acknowledge it in her head, Jane does not care for Catalina in the way she cares for the others. They do have a friendship, but Catalina does not receive the same type of love.

And it’s fine, totally fine.

Just that Catalina doesn’t quite want to face Jane this morning. Because she just did something really significant and if she has to face being treated unequal to the others when she mentions it she might have to go back to bed.

But she is happy she’s done it now. It’s like a weight has been lifted off of her shoulders, she’s been putting this off for so long now that she’d never thought she would do it. One of the other daycare workers had convinced her yesterday to do it as soon as she got home, and she put it off until this morning. She couldn’t just go into work and face that person saying she didn’t do it, could she? And so she did.

With that sudden burst of happiness after her anxiety, she prepares to face the chaos waiting for her downstairs. She’s already heard them all congregate to the kitchen, maybe she can grab a pop tart before leaving.

“Cathy, thank you for being the only one to not scream for me this morning. I’m proud. But have we got any sugar for your coffee?”

“I picked some up on the way home, it’s in the top left cabinet.”

“That’s great, Anna. Thank you.”

So, Jane’s in a praising mood this morning. Great.

She walks briskly into the kitchen and moves toward the counter that holds her lunch bag, thanking Anne for packing it this morning. As she does this she apologizes for holding them all up, they’re clearly all ready to go. She hopes they haven’t been waiting long.

“What were you doing?”

She glances at Cathy, then starts rifling through her pockets again to find her keys. She’s looked for her keys three times now, she knows she has them, but it’s something to focus on.

“Oh, it’s nothing really.” She tries to sound nonchalant as she says it. “Just finished applying for that child care class.”

Nothing could have prepared her for the cheers that sound through the room. Everyone seems so happy for her. And Catalina herself is really excited, so it’s nice. It’s nice to feel people being happy for her, even if she’s not making anyone proud.

Kitty hugs her, Anna starts talking about the future plans to own a daycare that they can all help with, Cathy congratulates her since she knew how hard it was for Catalina to make that step. Even Anne is smiling at her and pitching ideas for Anna to shoot down.

And then, Catalina’s heart stops.

Jane puts a hand on her arm, like she’s seen the woman do to every other person in the house, and tells her she’s proud. She even looks like she means it, for a moment.

Catalina can’t possibly respond, as she’s never had to respond to that before. She’s been trying to make it happen, but she hadn’t thought this far ahead. She just freezes and stands still, eyes wide with surprise and slight hope. And then Jane looks slightly regretful, and it’s enough to kill her mood completely.

Of course it was habitual, she’s been telling people she’s proud all morning. But she doesn’t act like that with Catalina. It wasn’t on purpose.

“Right, everyone out!” Catalina doesn’t hear the rest of what Jane says as she withdraws her hand. Everyone makes their way out of the front door and says their goodbyes. And once Catalina regains her ability to move, she quickly dodges Jane’s special not caring goodbye to her and practically runs to her car.

Her drive to the daycare usually takes about twenty minutes, it’s not unusual for her to arrive early to help set up. On days like today, where everyone is running late, she gets there with enough time to at least say hello to everyone before they open. But today is a special case. This particular morning, Catalina pulls into the parking lot of a convenience store/gas station and doesn’t care if she’s going to be late.

Hands shaking, she takes the key out of the ignition and stares into space. Jane said she’s proud of her. Not only that, but Catalina ruined it by freezing up. Maybe she wouldn’t have looked so apprehensive and regretful if Catalina had reacted better. Damn.

She tries to recall something to make her feel better. Something to make her at least stable enough to drive. A memory from her maids as a child or something funny from this life, anything at all. But as she goes through her head all she can find is that she can’t remember the last time someone was proud of her.

That may have been the first time in either of her lives that anyone has ever told her so.

She takes a deep breath. She needs to stop being so weird about it. It was out of habit, a lapse in character. It’s not as if Jane actually meant anything by it; Catalina should stop thinking about it. Her heart should stop its longing, she’s a grown woman. It doesn’t matter that she doesn’t have that kind of relationship with Jane, they’re still good friends. She doesn’t need Jane to feel that way about her.

God, she wishes that circle of thinking actually worked.

-

Jane worries. It’s something very known about her. If there was three things that signified Mom Friend to the group, it was her mom-like pride in her family, her hugs (which are soft,warm and inviting to all.), and her ability to inexplicably worry like no other.

Sometimes she frets over the other queens safety. Like when Kitty had wanted to go skydiving and brought Anna with her. Sometimes it’s at night time when she hears walking around. Although when that happens she can usually keep herself in bed if she hears more than one person up at a time. Today, she’s worried over if she’s just ruined her perfectly good friendship with Catalina.

She has so much respect for the woman, Jane would never intentionally cause her to feel uncomfortable. If only she’d just thought it through a bit more. Catalina clearly didn’t want the attention. But all Jane could think is that she was just so proud. Catalina’s been putting that off for so long now, Jane was so relieved to see it happen.

And now she’s alone, which doesn’t stop her worrying.

If anything being alone makes it worse, because now she’s overthinking what the woman's reaction could have possibly meant for them. Is she going to distance herself now? Will she be upset with Jane for accidentally being condescending? She would have every right to be indignant, Catherine of Aragon does not need to hear the praises of Jane, her former Lady In Waiting.

It’s been no more than thirty minutes since the others have left for the day, and Jane has already driven herself mad with anxiety. She tires to hum as she tidies the living room, only to feel herself becoming too impatient with the tasks. Then she attempted to watch TV, but ultimately could not focus. It seems today is a job for a bit of a more heavy duty distraction. Usually she’d work in the yard, but the hum of nature might hut more than help in the focusing department today. So, she picks up her most recent embroidery project and heads off to her bedroom.

She settles in, ready for a long day of avoiding her own thoughts. But the door downstairs opens, pulling her from her work immediately.

Who on earth could that be?

She opens her door and peers down the stairs, thankful that the location of her room allows her to see. Hopefully it’s not a burglar, Jane thinks she couldn’t handle that stress today. Not when she’d dealt with anxiety from yet another harrowing social interaction. Even with the queens, she finds a way to mess up. And they wonder why she’s an introvert.

The person who has entered their home starts coming up the stairs, and she sees. It’s only Catalina. Her heart slows in relief for a moment, before she remembers that Catalina is part of why she’s worrying. Then it shoots right back to the pace it was at before. Jane doesn’t close the door, she just makes eye contact with her and offers a smile.

“What happened with work?”

Catalina’s eyes flash an unfamiliar emotion before settling into a passive stare.

“Not feeling up to it today. I called out half way there.”

Now, usually Jane would rush to her fellow queens aid. But after this morning she doesn’t want to seem overbearing, so she stays rooted to her spot and keeps her tone even.

“Is there anything I can do for you?”

-

“Is there anything I can do for you?”

If Catalina were anyone else, Jane would be running to help. She’d probably insist on calling a doctor and rush her to bed before even hearing what’s wrong. Then she’d endure the jokes at her expense for the overreaction.

But Catalina for some reason is not the same, so Jane does not act like that with her.

“No, I’m just going to lie down.”

Jane nods, and closes her door. Apparently not seeing the dejection emanating from the other woman’s very posture.

Catalina seriously just needs to make peace with the fact that she isn’t one of the others. She’s a part of the family, but she’ll never be in with them. If she made peace with this, maybe it wouldn’t hurt as much when the examples of her isolation are so plain to see.

Instead of continuing to sulk in front of Jane’s door like a child, Catalina goes to her bedroom to sulk in her own space.

-

Catalina’s home.

Catalina is home, and Jane is so sure now that she’s made things weird. They can hardly make eye contact with each other.

She sits back down and aggressively picks up her embroidery project. Focus, focus, focus, focus! Her mind drifts back and forth between her hands moving swiftly through a stitch and her possible damaged friendship with Catalina. She should apologize, she won’t be leaving to focus until she-

Jane is abruptly pulled out of her thoughts by a subtle knock on her door. She knows Catalina is the only other queen home, but she can’t help but think that the knock is similar to Kitty’s on a bad day.

“Come in.”

The door opens slightly, and the woman on the other side ones her head in, “Jane?”

“Yes?”

There’s a hesitation, which is probably because Jane has made things irrecoverably weird between them. But eventually after her mental deliberation Catalina steps all the way into the room and softly closes the door behind herself.

When she doesn't speak right away, Jane moves her stuff off of the bed and invites her to sit. After Cataina’s sitting, they both make an attempt to start the conversation.

“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable-“

“Thank you for saying you’re proud of me-“

They both stop and stare, wide eyed.

“What-“

“Why would you have made me-“

“I just thought-“

“No! Never, I-“

“We’ve just been such good friends-“

“Yes! And so that was nice to hear-“

Jane looks at Catalina, astounded. Had she really been happy about the praise? She says so, but she seemed so put off by it before.

“Then why did you react like it was wrong?” She questions.

She watches Catalina take a breath before providing her own explanation.

“It just caught me off guard is all. You don’t really tend to say things like that to me.”

“I mean, I never thought you’d need it.”

-

Catalina’s knee jerk reaction is to say she doesn’t. But then she stops herself. If this conversation is going to be productive at all, she needs to be honest.

“It’s nice to hear every once in a while, though.”

Jane looks surprised by the admission, as if Catalina has just told her a secret.

“I always thought it would make you uncomfortable.” She murmurs back, although now she sounds like she’s back in her head.

Catalina gulps, now or never.

“I’ve actually been wanting to hear it.” She admits before she can stifle herself.

The other woman is still absolutely shocked; and if at all possible, her eyes get wider.

“What?” Jane stammers out in disbelief. Catalina kind of wants the floor to open up and swallow her.

“Not to sound needy or anything!” She rushes. “It’s just that you say stuff like that to the others all of the time, and this is the first time you’ve said it to me! And so I got excited but I knew it was just you saying it out of habit so I didn’t respond.”

“-Well I would have said it more often to you if I’d known!”

“But you didn’t know-“

“I was trying to respect your boundaries-“

“I get that, nothing has to change either-“

“Hell yes it does!”

Now it’s Catalina’s turn to be wide eyed in surprise. She’s never heard Jane sound so indignant before.

“You’ve- what? Been thinking I’m just, not proud of you? This whole time?” There’s a sense of urgency in the defensive nature of her voice. She needs to know the answer to these questions. So Catalina answers truthfully.

“Well, yes? And you certainly don’t have to be. I’m a grown woman, I don’t need to hear that you’re proud of me all of the time.”

She didn’t realize she’d been looking away until Jane grabbed her arm. It’s a soft touch, reminiscent of the way she held it this morning. When she meets Jane’s eyes all she sees is warmth.

“Catalina, I am so, so proud of you. Every day.”

Catalina opens her mouth to protest, but Jane speaks again before she can.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been showing it properly. I thought that you’d be uncomfortable if I treated you the same as everyone else. I have too much respect for you to do that.”

Oh.

“I’ll say it more, now that I know you’re okay with it. Alright?”

Catalina can hardly nod, overcome with an indescribable emotion. All she knows is that she feels warm.

They lapse into a comfortable silence, enjoying each other's company. They are good friends after all. Enjoying being around each other is the basis of their friendship, actually.

“Hey, Jane?”

“Yes?”

“You know, calling out is really stressful.” She observes.

Jane’s eyes light up in recognition, “Ah, yes. What with them asking you questions and your phone anxiety. I imagine it’s very difficult for you.”

She nods bashfully, hopeful once again.

“Well, dear, I am very proud of you.”

[berrynarrybanana]

Mrs. Styles - Honeybee Extra

A/N: I would like to let you all know that I don’t know what happened here. I started writing at the beginning of my shift and I just didn’t stop and then bam, this happened? I have links to the outfit and other things mentioned in the fic below. I hope you enjoy the visual trip and the journey of this fic as it is a whirlwind ride. Please let me know if you enjoy this and please tell Harry to stop trying to kill me if you see him, kay? I love you all and I’m here if you need to talk!

Rental House | Outfit |

Word Count: 3k+ 

Warnings: Daddy kink, impreg!kink, roleplay

November 2020

The second the photos broke, I lost it. 

Harry wearing a wedding ring on the set of his new film sent me reeling in a pit of lust and wanting unlike any other. I spent my entire afternoon clenching my thighs together and avoiding small talk with coworkers. I was meant to fly out on Friday afternoon to visit him for the weekend, but I was struggling to hold it together. The wedding band on his finger was taunting me from two thousand miles away and I was caving. Anna had no problem with me disappearing a little early, so long as I had my laptop with me and my articles submitted. 

My flight was switched for Thursday morning instead of Friday evening as originally planned. I had to jump through some hoops to ensure no one actually saw me entering JFK or leaving LAX. Having pap photos taken of me would certainly ruin my surprise. I spent too much time hatching my plan for a group of sleazy men with camera’s to ruin it. 

“Why are you dressed like that?” Harry rubbed at his eyes, his voice scratchy and his brain groggy due to the early hour. “You look like you’re going on a run.”

“I’m doing a bunch of errands for Anna today, so I decided to dress casual.” I shrugged, shifting around in my private lounge seat at the airport. “I’m waiting for a friend of hers to get off their flight before I take them into the office.”

“Thought you were hopping on your flight a little early to surprise me.” He pouted, his eyes shining under the dim lighting. “Made my heart race a little.”

“I wish I could, darling.” I said softly. “I miss you so much already and it’s barely been two weeks.”

“I know, it sucks.” He inhaled sharply, shaking his head. “Only one more sleep and then we’ll be together for the weekend.”

“I can’t wait, squid.” I said softly. “I’ll talk to you later today, okay? Don’t be upset if I can’t answer a text or anything, I’ll be so busy with Anna’s errands-”

“S’alright, honey.” He gave me a reassuring smile. “I’ll be on set so I might not be able to text as often either.”

“Alright.” I said. “I love you.”

“I love you.” He blew a kiss to the camera and I caught it, pressing my fingers to my cheek with a soft giggle. “Have a great day, honey.”

“You too, squid.”

After I hung up with Harry, I jumped into planning mode. 

I already had the address to the rental house and a copy of the key. Harry had sent it to me the moment he got one himself just in case I ever wanted to come visit. We both knew that flight times and his filming schedule might not line up perfectly, so it didn’t hurt to have a key just in case I had to drive from LAX to Palm Springs on my own. I planned on stopping at the Malibu house to steal Roxanne from the garage. It would take me two hours and a half hours to get from Malibu to Palm Springs once I finally started my solo road trip. 

As I switched over to a calming playlist that Harry made for me on my birthday, I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. 

I knew that it would be a fun trip, but I could only hope that Harry really liked his surprise. 

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

The sun was beating down on my bare legs as I leaned against Roxanne. 

I anxiously twirled the set of keys around my perfectly painted fingernails. I picked one of the most infamous shades from the 1950’s to match my hair, makeup, and outfit. I rubbed my painted lips together nervously, taking a shuddery breath as I watched the gate of the production set carefully. I thought that it was going to open four times before, but no one had stumbled off set yet. 

They were all set to do a two hour lunch break today and that gave me plenty of time to do what I wanted with Harry back in his rental home. I spent most of my time getting ready there, following several tutorials on vintage hair and makeup before I dressed in my adorable outfit. It was something I saw on a show about a female comedian in the fifties. I adored her style throughout the whole show, but I really loved this outfit on me. 

It was a pair of black and white check shorts with a matching, three quarter sleeve blazer. I went through Harry’s closet, in search of his ivory silk shirt that I’d seen him wear in a pap photo years ago, to add a little special touch to the outfit. It had his last name stitched on the pocket to compliment the fake wedding ring I’d slipped on my finger. 

That was the part I was nervous about. 

I didn’t want him to think that I was insane for finding a piece of costume jewelry to match his own fake wedding ring. I got the idea on the flight over from New York, my mind racing with ideas and scenarios to play out. I ultimately decided that if he could torture me with a wedding ring, then I could torture him with one. 

The gate finally opened as I started to contemplate picking my nails, a loud screeching sound pulling me from my thoughts as I gripped the keys to the benz in my hand tightly.

Florence was the first out, and while I was delighted to meet the girl who was spending so much time with my boyfriend, I didn’t care to meet her just yet. I watched her turn back, letting out a charming giggle as my boyfriend followed suite behind her. Olivia Wilde was next, a bag on her shoulder and a wide smile on her face. A few other familiar faces trailed out after Harry, and suddenly, my nerves had skyrocketed. A lot of famous people were about to see me in a classic fifties get up with a car scarf around my curls and my legs exposed. 

My nerves were soothed for just a moment as I looked at Harry’s freshly cut hair, slicked back in a style that I thought I would hate on him. As per usual, he looked like a daydream. My breath caught in my throat when he looked over at me, his eyes growing wide and a smirk pulling at the corner of his lips. Florence caught on to his line of sight, following his gaze until her eyes landed on me. I gave him a quick wave as everyone else turned to look at me and I felt my face grow hot. He pressed a quick kiss to Olivia’s cheek and then Florence’s before jogging my way. 

“What the hell is all this?” He gripped my elbow gently, leaning down to press his lips to mine with a wide smile. “Beatrice, you look so good.”

“I know.” I hummed against his lips, brushing my fingers over his cheek. “Hi.”

“Hiya, honey.” He cooed, wrapping his arms around me. “Fuck me, you’re gorgeous.”

“I thought I’d do a little something to surprise you.” I wrapped my arms around his neck, tossing my head back when he pulled the scarf from my head. “Harry!” 

“You did your hair and makeup, too?” He kissed my cheek. “Come on, I want you to meet Olivia and Florence. They’re going to love this.”

“I don’t want her to think I’m mocking her movie.” I glanced down at Harry, causing him to frown slightly. “I did it because I knew you would love it and I had a lot of fun dressing up, but I don’t want to offend her.”

“You won’t.” He reassured me. “She’ll probably make you an extra.”

“Shut up.” I rolled my eyes as he pouted. “Fine, I’ll go over there.”

“Thank you.” He set me down, grabbing my hand before tugging me along. 

“Olivia, Florence,” Harry glanced back at me with a giddy grin. “This is my girlfriend, Beatrice.”

“Hello,” I stuck my hand out between us and they both went for a shake. “It’s really nice to meet y’all.”

“You too.” Florence beamed back at me with a smile that was almost as bright as the sun. “I just want to thank you for letting me borrow your boyfriend. He’s such a lovely person and a dream to work with.”

“Try baking with him, you’ll change your mind.” I squeezed Harry’s hand, letting out a soft chuckle. “He’s like a toddler when he gets in the kitchen.”

“I can’t imagine him in an apron.” Olivia laughed. “We have to see that.”

“I have pictures, I’ll make sure to give him a framed one for his trailer.” I pressed my lips together as Harry squeaked out. 

“Alright, I didn’t think you’d all gang up on me.” He said playfully. “I wanted to show you off and here you are, teasing me for baking.”

“I’m teasing you because you steal the batter on a spoon, not because you’re baking. I love baking with you.” I bumped my hip into his, smiling up at him. “But I’ve got to keep you grounded, don’t I? Your head will inflate and I’ll have to tie a cinder block to your foot to keep you from floating off.” 

“Haha, you’re so funny.” He scrunched his nose up and I tossed my head back, letting out a loud laugh. “Anyways, what do you think of her outfit?”

“Oh, Harry, don’t-”

“It looks great, actually.” Olivia said. “Did I see that on the set of the Marvelous Mrs. Masiel?” 

“Yeah, you did.” I nodded. “I love that show and all of her outfits so much.”

“It looks adorable on you.” Florence said. “You work for Vogue, don’t you?” 

“Yeah.” I nodded. “I did a piece with one of your Little Women co-stars not too long ago, actually.”

“I thought you seemed familiar.” She exclaimed. “You came on set one day, didn’t you?”

“I did.” I nodded. “It was an honest to god, out of body experience for me. I loved Little Women so much as a girl. I seriously wanted to change my name to Josephine after reading it.”

“And then the film was so bloody amazing!” Florence exclaimed. “Harry, why have you kept her away from us for so long?”

“S’not my fault she has a job.” He rolled his eyes, chortling playfully. “I tried to convince her that being a housewife was much more fun, but I think she read the script and decided against it.”

“Yeah, I sure did.” I laughed softly alongside Olivia and Florence. “We should do dinner or something this weekend. I don’t know if you all have plans, but Harry’s rental house has a table that seats like, eight people.”

“That sounds wonderful.” Olivia said. “Just let us know the details and I’ll pass it along to the other main actors.”

“Sounds great.” Harry said. “Well, I’m going to steal my girl away if you don’t mind. I’ll see you in two hours?”

“See you then, Harry.” Florence waved before she took off in the direction of her car. “Bye, Beatrice!”

“Bye, Florence.” I waved back at her with a giggle before turning to Olivia. “It was really lovely to meet you. I’ll make sure to get him back in time.”

“Thank you.” She laughed. “Have a great lunch, you two.” 

“Thanks.” Harry and I said at the same time. 

When Olivia was gone, Harry looked down at me with a smirk. 

“Do I get to fuck you now?” He asked, his dimple popping out. 

“It depends.” I said slowly. “Would you, by chance, like to partake in a little role play?”

“It depends.” He said back. “What do you have in mind?”

I walked forward, smoothing my hands over his t-shirt covered chest. I pressed up on my toes, bringing my lips as close to his ears as I could get them. 

“Do you still have your wedding ring from set?”

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

“Honey!” I heard Harry’s voice from where I was lounging on the sofa, a magazine draped over my thighs. “I’m home.”

I smiled, flipping through my magazine without actually paying attention to it. 

I heard Harry’s footsteps moments later, his dress shoes tapping along the concrete floor of the house. I tilted my head up when he moved in front of me, his eyes trailing over my body. 

“You look comfortable.” He said, reaching for my magazine with two fingers. “You didn’t answer when I called out for you.”

“Sorry, darling,” I hummed out when he pressed his lips to mine. “I was invested in an article.”

“You and your articles.” He breathed against my lips. “It’s been ages since I’ve seen you. Are you just going to sit there?”

“I was planning on it, sweet pea.” I brushed my thumb over his bottom lip. “I’m relaxing my feet.”

“Now, I’ve been gone on business for six days, honey. I would like the chance to properly greet my beautiful wife.” He smirked, setting his briefcase to the coffee table behind him. 

“Mr. Styles,” I twisted my legs off the couch, standing up between the furniture and Harry. “I don’t know what you’re insinuating, but I’ve got far too much to get done today. I’ve still got grocery shopping to do and well, I have to call your Mother.”

“I have a better plan, doll.” He roughly gripped my hips, his fingers digging into my sides harshly as he yanked me against his chest. “How about we sneak off for a little afternoon delight?” 

“Harry Styles, I don’t think so.” I mocked offense, swatting his shoulder. “I’m far too busy.”

“Make time for your husband, honey.” He cooed, brushing his knuckles against my cheek gently before he gripped my chin. “Make love with your husband.” 

“Mr. Styles, you do drive a hard bargain.” I whispered, my breath catching in my throat as our eyes connected in a lustful gaze. “I do have something I’ve been wanting to show you.”

“Mrs. Styles, what have you been up to while daddy’s been away?” He hummed out as his lips brushed against my red painted lips. “Have you been naughty?” 

“No,” I smirked. “I’ve been an angel.”

“Prove it.” He whispered moments before our lips collided. 

He kissed me just like they did in the old movies, his body wrapping around mine. I moaned against him when I felt his tongue slip over my own, giving me a taste of what I had been craving for two weeks now. I let out a giggle and then a squeak of surprise when I felt his hands under my bum, lifting me up into his arms. I wrapped my legs around him, holding on tight as he walked us from the living room towards the bedroom. He dropped me on the bed before grabbing my right ankle, holding my leg up as my ankle rested on his shoulder. 

“These heels…” He started to fiddle with the clasp, finally pulling the strap loose before he slipped it off. “They’re new.”

“Just bought them.” I gripped the duvet under my fingers. “Do you like them?” 

“Yes.” He kissed my ankle before gently resting my right leg on the bed. “Did you buy them with daddy’s money?” 

“I did.” I bit my lower lip as my core clenched, my walls fluttering at his tone. “I bought them for you.”

“You didn’t even ask daddy before you bought them.” He tutted, reaching for my left ankle. “You’re getting bold.”

“I just wanted to surprise you.” I said. 

“I’m very surprised.” He gave me a soft wink, one that let me know my Harry was still in this version of him that we’d quickly created in the car. 

A business man with a daddy kink in the 1950’s that wanted to knock his wife up after a long business trip. It was a simple plot, but it combined quite a few kinks into one scenario, so we didn’t really mind. I giggled when he reminded me that daddy was a common nickname in that time period, something girls called their husbands in a provocative setting. 

When both of my heels were off, Harry brushed his hands up my bare thighs until they landed on my hips. He gently guided me towards the center of the bed before kneeling over me. I lifted both hands up, cupping his cheeks as he leaned down to kiss my lips. 

“Mrs. Styles,” He hummed out. “I’ve been thinking?”

“About what, Mr. Styles?” I pressed my lips over his cheek, sliding my fingers towards the back of his neck. 

“I think it’s been quite lonely around here.” He said. “I can’t imagine you’re enjoying all of this time alone when I’m away on business.” 

“I get by just fine.” I said softly, dropping my head back to the mattress. “Do you want to get a dog, Harry? Is that what this is about?”

“I don’t want to get a dog, darling.” He chuckled, brushing his nose over mine. “I want a baby.”

“A baby?” My eyes grew wide. “Isn’t it a bit soon, darling? We’ve only been married for five months.” 

“That’s more than enough time, doll.” He whined. “I want us to have a beautiful little baby to love and to dote on. I want to show her off in front of my friends and my family-”

“Oh, Mr. Styles.” I sighed, shaking my head. “Don’t you know I’d do anything for you, darling.”

“Is that a yes?” He smirked, his eyes lighting up.

“Yes.” I gasped out when he rutted his hips forward. “Please.”

He wasted no time, stripping me from my blazer and then my tiny shorts. He tossed them aside carelessly, his hands falling to the buttons on the silk shirt that I had stolen from our closet. 

“S’this mine?” He glanced up at me with a confused smirk. “Haven’t seen this in ages.”

“S’yours.” I nodded, holding the lapel to the side to show off his name. “S’got your name on it and everything.”

“Cheeky girl.” He cooed out, dropping his head to press a kiss to my stomach. “It’s our name.”

I let out a low whine in the back of my throat, shifting my hips as Harry made it to the last button towards the top of the dress shirt. I watched his face carefully as he pushed it to the side, his eyes scanning the black, vintage set that I had purchased for today. 

“You’re trying to kill me.” He gasped out as his fingers brushed over the skin of my stomach to my breasts. “Fucking….I can’t take this anymore. I need to be inside of you.”

“Then get inside of me, Mr. Styles.” I lifted my legs, spreading them apart slightly so he could see the cut out area on the crotch of the panties. “You don’t even have to take everything off.”

Harry’s eyes were on mine, burning a dark shade of emerald as he licked over his bottom lip. I giggled when he started to unbuckle his trousers, tanking the zipper down before he tucked his hand in. He pulled his cock out, giving it a few firm strokes before he hovered his body over mine. Seconds later, I felt the stretch of my walls around his cock, causing my body to tense.

“There’s my girl.” He grunted out, pushing himself in as far as he could possibly go before pressing a few, sloppy kisses to my face. “So snug around me, aren’t you?”

“Harry.” I dropped my hands to his back, digging my nails into the cotton of his shirt as he pulled out slowly. Seconds later, he was pushing back in and I was gasping for air. “Fuck, that’s nice.”

“Mrs. Styles, you have such a filthy mouth.” He smeared his lips over mine before both of his hands found their home by my ears. “Who taught you to talk like that?” 

“You.” I let out a breathless chuckle that quickly faded as the tip of his cock massaged my g-spot. 

“Yeah?” His eyelids fluttered shut as he continued to work his hips in a steady rhythm. “No other blokes have been hangin’ round here?” 

“None.” I shook my head as my nails drug down to his lower back and eventually to his bum. I pushed my fingers down his pants, digging my nails into the flesh there. “Just you.”

“You’re my girl.” He gritted out as a single curl fell to his forehead. “Only mine.”

“Only yours.” I whimpered, biting at my lower lip. “You feel so good, Harry.” 

“Can’t wait to see you pregnant, honey.” He let out a whine of his own, clenching his eyes. “It’s gonna be so beautiful, seeing you round and full while you carry my baby..”

“I want it so bad, Harry.”

“And after this baby,” He let out a strangled moan, delivering another sharp thrust that had me gasping. “I’m gonna put another one in you, and then another.” 

“Please, I want it.” I nodded, sliding my fingers back up his back. “Want you closer.”

He pressed his body into mine, his hips moving in desperate thrusts and his pelvis applying pressure to my clit with each move. I tossed my head back, silently asking for his lips to press against my throat. I felt him latch on as his thrust started to get sloppier. I knew that he was close by the little whines pulling from his throat and the puffs of air hitting my skin. 

Harry’s hand slipped between our bodies in no time, rubbing my clit with an urgency that I’d never experienced before with him. I felt my body flush warm and my walls tighten around him as he delivered three final thrusts. We both cried out when he spilled into me, filling my walls with his cum until it dripped out onto the black panties still settled onto my hips. 

“You bought yourself a ring?” our chests were both heaving, his body still pressed into mine. 

I tried to let out a giggle, but he was heavy against my body and it came out wheezy. 

“It’s costume jewelry.” I brushed my hand over his back. “Just thought it would be fun after I saw you wearing that ring on set. I saw the pictures online and they nearly killed me.”

“Mhm, you’re just trying to seduce me into proposing earlier than I planned.” He lifted his head, pressing his lips against mine in a sweet kiss. “Hello, honey.”

“Hiya, darling.” I lifted my hand, tugging gently on the curl that fell over forehead with a fond smile. “I love you.”

“Love you, too.” He whispered. “I love you and everything you do for me. I don’t tell you enough how much I appreciate you for being the best girlfriend out there.”

“Harry-” 

“Don’t deflect or play it down,” He said sternly. “I mean every word from the bottom of my heart, Beatrice. I...no one else on set has had a spouse or partner come visit them on the weekends. No one else had flowers sent to their trailer or daily facetime calls and inspirational messages. You make me feel so loved and so special on a daily basis and that means the world to me. So thank you for being you, honey. I love you with all of my heart.”

“I love you, too.” I sniffled, blinking rapidly as a few tears fell down my temples, into my hair. “I hope you liked your surprise. I didn’t want to freak you out, but I thought it would be fun.”

“It was.” He brushed his nose over mine. “It was a lot of fun, actually. I think we should mess around like that more often.”

“Not too often, though.” I chuckled. “One of these days, I’ll actually end up pregnant.” 

“Wheat’s wrong with that?” He hummed out. 

“One step at a time, darling.” I patted his shoulder. “Oh, just so you know, we won’t be having a girl first.”

“Excuse me?” Harry hissed when I pushed at his shoulders, causing him to slip out of my walls. I guided him to his back before I climbed on top of him, pressing my palms to his tummy. “I don’t...what?” 

“You said ‘her’ earlier, but we’re having a boy first.” I said casually. “I know it.”

“How do you know it?” He chuckled as his brows creased. “Did you make a deal with Stevie at one of her witch things?” 

“I didn’t need to make a deal, I just know it.” I patted his cheek. “Gonna name him Ellis.”

“Why Ellis?” He tilted his head to the side. “Where did you hear that?” 

“Ellis Island.” I smiled. “We took our first vacation together in New York and the ferry to Ellis Island was one of my favorite parts of that trip. It’s a piece of our history.”

“I love that.” He said softly. “I love you.” 

“I love you, too.” I giggled, leaning forward to press my lips against his. “Round two?” 

“Why, Mrs. Styles, I like the way you think.”

[imagine-being-straight]

I wrote a parrlyn fic for the amazing @politics-notmything as part of their parrlyn fluff contest. I hope you guys find this fic enjoyable!

Word Count: 1315

When Cathy woke up from her much-needed slumber she almost forgot what today was. It was any other Tuesday for anyone else, but for Cathy, it was her one year anniversary dating Anne. Just the mere thought of her brought a dopey smile to Cathy’s face. Cathy knows for a fact if Anna saw her like this so early in the morning she would give her so much shit over this, but Cathy couldn’t bring herself to care. It’s their one year anniversary for goodness sake.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts and went to get dressed so she could be ready for her day. She could already feel the excitement for the day fill her body as she got dressed. Her normal nervousness was even playing nice today as it hadn’t even formed yet.

She chose to dress a tad nicer than she normally did which wasn’t that hard considering her normal apparel was hoodies and sweatpants. A white button-up with blue suspenders and navy pants would do. Is she overdressed for today? Probably, but you gotta dress to impress after all. She puts on her glasses and mentally calms herself so she doesn’t melt like the useless gay she is the second she sees Anne.

As she walked down the stairs she immediately noticed how quiet the house was. Considering the fact that six women lived in one house and all of them would be awake by now made this is a very uncommon sight. She couldn’t even hear Lina and Anne's daily bickering which is highly unusual as their morning bickering became almost routine to her.

Once she got to the bottom floor she noticed two things. One, everyone but Anne had left the house evident by their shoes missing from the front door. Two, Anne was cooking chocolate chip pancakes, Cathy’s favorite, in the kitchen and was facing away from Cathy. Cathy, the sap she is, immediately took advantage of this and carefully snuck behind Anne before hugging her from behind. She felt Anne jump a bit before sinking right into Cathy’s embrace. 

Cathy let out a chuckle before saying, “Good morning my love. Nice to see brunch is almost all done all thanks to you.”

“Good morning mon ange. How’d you sleep?” Anne responds while flipping over the last pancake.

“I slept wonderfully dear, but I wish it could’ve been with you,” Cathy says while nuzzling Anne’s neck.

“You know for a fact Lina won’t let us sleep together alone in a bedroom. She thinks we’re gonna fuck the moment we’re alone.” Anne responds with a playful grin.

“Actually that reminds me, where are the others? They’re usually mingling around the house at this time of day.” Cathy asks while looking around the room.

“Oh yeah, I got them to leave for the afternoon. Apparently they didn’t want to see us be all sappy with each other.” Anne responds while giving a fond roll of her eyes.

“Ah okay. By the way, before I forget, happy one year my love.” Cathy says, her face now nestled right into the side of Anne’s neck.

“Happy one year to you as well mon ange.” Anne chuckles before continuing, “As much as I’d like to stay in this position we do gotta eat before the pancakes get cold.”

Cathy lets out a huge whine much to Anne’s amusement and reluctantly lets go of Anne to eat brunch. They set up the table for brunch and once Anne properly sees Cathy’s outfit she lets out a long “Damn” and eyes her up and down dramatically. Cathy playfully bumps her shoulder before turning back to her food.

Brunch passes by with little notable to offer other than the two holding hands and flirting with each other the entire time. They clean their dishes before moving up to Anne’s room to cuddle and watch Netflix together. As they cuddle they decide that it's best they exchange their anniversary gifts now rather than later as the other queens would arrive back in a few hours. 

Cathy had left Anne’s room temporarily so they could both grab their gifts and as she stood outside Anne’s door she nervously shuffled in place. She’s holding the poem she made for Anne and logically knows Anne will love it no matter what, but that doesn’t stop her from worrying about Anne not liking it. She sighs before mentally preparing herself for failure no matter how unlikely it is. 

Cathy opens the door to the sight of Anne lying on the bed looking through a flipbook before quickly hiding it once she sees Cathy. Cathy notices Anne changed out of her pajamas into a light blue crop top that she stole from Cathy a few weeks ago, covered by an unbuttoned dark green flannel matched with dark green jeans. Cathy flashes a nervous smile at Anne before sitting down on Kat’s bed right across from Anne. Anne sits up also flashing a nervous smile matching Cathy’s one. 

They both sit in awkward silence for a bit before Cathy clears her throat and begins to speak. “I uhh. I made a poem for you and I hope you like it.” 

Cathy gives Anne the poem and starts to fiddle with her suspenders not making eye contact with Anne. Anne lets out a small chuckle at this and opens the folded piece of paper to read Cathy’s poem.

Irises brighter than the shiniest emerald 

Laughs more heavenly than an angel’s song

Optimism through all troubles no matter how big

Vivacious spirit unrivaled by anyone in the land

Enchanting to all in both spirit and personality

Yearning for you pulls at my heart every moment

Oh how could I not be a fool in love for you

Ultimately you bring me more joy that exists in this galaxy

Anne lets out a small “Aw” once finishing the poem and wraps Cathy in a big old hug. 

“Mon ange this poem is so cute and I love it so much. I’m gonna treasure it until my dying day.” Anne says before peppering kisses all over Cathy’s embarrassed face.

“It’s not that amazing my love.” Cathy bashfully states while very much embarrassed by Anne’s praise and kisses.

“It’s amazing mon ange. Now open your hands so I can give you the flipbook I made for you.” Anne states before dramatically pulling out the flipbook she hid from Cathy when she opened the door.

Cathy giggles at her girlfriend’s antics and allows Anne to give her the flipbook. The cover has a devil and an angel facing apart with darkness all around them. Cathy flips through the book and watches as the devil walks around aimlessly in the dark before spotting light. The devil moves toward the light and sees an angel that has the same hairstyle as Cathy. They embrace and when they do the darkness starts to fade away. They walk together while holding hands and as they walk more darkness disappears. The back of the flipbook has the devil and the angel holding hands and facing each other with the darkness almost impossible to see.

Cathy looks up to Anne with tears in her eyes and Anne says “You always make the darkness go away mon ange.”

Cathy tackles Anne into a hug knocking her onto the ground while Cathy just tells her how much of a sap she is and how much she loves her all while crying. Anne starts crying too at Cathy’s kind words and holds Cathy as they both cry together, both of them telling each other how much they love them. Anne tries to wipe away the tears on Cathy’s face before she moves Cathy’s head so their foreheads are touching.

Once they make eye contact Anne fondly staring into Cathy’s eyes says, “I love you.”

Cathy staring back into her eyes lovingly responds, “I love you too.”

[justlookatthosesausages]

“Lift the Spirit” :: a fluff/angst post-Frozen 2 Elsamaren fanfic

Chapter 5: Cause I’m not alone anymore

Nokk was still waiting at the place Elsa had told them to wait. They turned their head to the call of the Snow Queen. It was remarkably stealthy; Elsa didn’t even have to whistle to get their attention, she simply used her mental bond, and the Water Spirit obeyed. 

The blonde ran along the trees, increasing her race even, and the magical horse galloped to join her side, catching up with her rhythm. They ran sideways in the Moon light for a few seconds, Elsa’s gaze still on the horizon to where the Northuldra camp was, and she didn’t even need to look at Nokk for the next step. She rose her left hand and jumped on their back from the flank, her legs hovering their barrel as she seemed to float during her twirl. Her hand still on their crest, she sat bareback as usual and sent a silent order to the Water Spirit, asking them to dash to the Sami village. 

Nokk nodded energetically, and ran to where the others had been waiting. When Elsa arrived in a barely perceptible trot in the camp, several people startled of surprise. 

Except for Anna, who had been expecting her venue and staring at where she had come from. The redhead came closer, holding a torch like several Northuldra. 

“He’s on the shore.” Informed Elsa, staying on Nokk. “I saw him plan how he’s going to cross the Dark Sea. He’s distracted. It’s now or never if we want to have the element of surprise.” 

Anna, Honeymaren, Eydis, Kristoff and Ryder nodded. The Snow Queen outstretched a hand for her sister to help her jump behind her, which she did in a swift motion. 

Kristoff went on Rask’s back, and helped Eydis to get behind her. Finally, Honeymaren and Ryder rode the fastest reindeer of the herd. 

“Everyone, get to your positions.” Ordered the Northuldra leader. “You know what you have to do. Stand guard and don’t let anyone or anything approach. I have confidence in you all.” 

“May Ahtohallan be with you.” Bowed Jongu. He was in charge of the camp while she was gone, and would not disappoint her. His eyes were fierce at the light of his torch. 

They all exchanged words of support, then galloped up North. 

Elsa was leading, with Anna holding her waist tight. The blonde couldn’t tell if she was doing that due to the surreal speed of Nokk and the possibility of falling, to the roughness of Anna’s armor, or to her undeniable mix of stress and excitement. 

The Snow Queen patted her hand. She wondered if she could feel it because she had reinforced leather gloves, but when she felt the redhead tilt on the side, she smiled in success. 

“Everything will be okay, Anna.” 

The Queen didn’t answer, for bad fortune, and simply cuddled closer to her elder. She couldn’t lose her. Not after all that their family had been through. 

Elsa passed a hand along Nokk’s neck while they were heading to the Dark Sea shore. She could feel how nervous the Water Spirit was as well. Even Gale and Bruni, who were protecting the camp, and the Giants, who were patrolling in the land, were exhaling stress, and she could feel it kilometers away. 

“It will be alright, dear friends.” She sent as a mental answer, and their mood calmed down a bit. 

Nevertheless, she was upset that the Spirits couldn’t participate to the fight. She had thought of begging Ahtohallan to use their magic against Victor, but she knew that the laws of Nature were immutable. Magical Spirits had been brought to the world to protect and help, not to attack opposite dark forces. However, as the Fifth Spirit, Elsa was allowed to intervene; just as, sadly, the previous Fifth Spirit could make his own choices concerning Niks’ penalty. The Bridge existed to forge a path between humans and magic, and Elsa’s role now was to stop Victor’s evil ends and prevent him from taking control of Ahtohallan. Her instinct of guardian of the magical source made her flare, ironically in an ice cold way. The glacier had helped her to fully accept and love herself, and she would never let anyone destroy it. 

On that thought, she slammed her heels on Nokk’s sides to go faster, and the Spirit complied with an excited neigh, sharing her feelings. 

=======

“What, you thought you could ambush me?” 

They all widened their eyes in surprise from the big shore rocks they had been hiding behind. 

“This whole shore is covered with pebbles. Only an idiot would not hear you arriving.” Sighed dramatically Victor Eiglatson. 

He turned his attention from the Dark Sea to them, his tangled and dirty hair floating in the wind. Elsa couldn’t help but think, after she saw his deep pain and sorrow at the death of his wife, that he never fully recovered from it, and it would explain his messy appearance and his simple outfit. 

In opposite to the armors or reinforced leather they were wearing, Victor looked weak, feeble. He only had a dark purple cape with a hood, and a vest and pants that looked like the Arendelle army uniform. It was worn-out, but not in the same way than the ones of the guards that had been trapped for years in the Forest like Mattias; he clearly didn’t take care of it, not minding that it had stains at some parts. 

Revulsed, she still answered his invitation when he lifted his chin in a provocative ‘quit your hiding spot if you dare’ gesture. 

Anna grabbed her elder’s arm when she saw her walk around the rock calmly. “What are you doing?!” 

“He wants a fight. I’ll give him a fight.” 

Honeymaren stared at her, but eventually agreed. She stood up from the low rock where she had been hiding with Eydis. 

“She’s right. You want to confront us, don’t you, Victor?” 

The man didn’t get affected by her threatening tone. He preferred to choose sarcasm against her gritted teeth. 

“Well, well, well. I am even blessed by the presence of the Northuldra leader, uhm? How ironic.” 

Elsa frowned and clenched her fists. 

“You know, it’s actually even better.” Admitted the man. “It makes this fight even more meaningful.” 

He cracked his fingers, a habit that Kristoff hated to see, so it’s what made him stand. As if they were mentally connected, Anna rose at the same time on Elsa’s side, like a protective shadow. When she saw her mother stand, Eydis copied the move. She even glanced at Victor with a fierce stare, gripping her mace, to show that even if she was the youngest opponent, it didn’t mean that she wouldn’t make him live hell. Ryder was the last one to stand, but that didn’t make the whole thing less impressive. All together, they walked around the rocks and formed a line, all drawing their weapons in synchronized moves. 

With the whistling wind and the bright Moon light, it made their stance even more epic than it already was. 

“Waow, the whole family is here. How touching.” Commented Victor on a flat tone, not impressed. 

Then, he realized that the shining armors and the magic pieces of Elsa’s outfit weren’t the only thing to gleam in the bright light. He saw, with eyes getting wider and wider, that everyone without exception had custom-made additions to their weapons. Elsa had been way faster at upgrading her assaults than he thought. He tried to hide a nervous gulp, but Honeymaren, with her acute huntress sight, smirked at his state. 

Elsa also saw that he wasn’t expecting that level of preparation. She blinked in realization that Victor had nothing of a great strategist. Only anger and sorrow fueled his actions. So she decided to lower her ice spear. 

She took a few steps forward, her crafted sandals screeching on the pebbles. Anna and Honeymaren exchanged a look, not wanting to lower their weapons like her and wondering what she was doing. 

“Victor, this is your last chance to surrender.” 

“Great, because I never intend to.” Replied the man with deep anger. 

Elsa perceived it, and calmed down the situation. 

“I know why you acted like that lately.” 

“You know nothing about me.” 

“I’ve seen memories of you and the Fifth Spirit in Ahtohallan. I know what happened. I’ve seen it all. Your past… Your pain...” 

She explained everything, and his face distorted when she finished her story. 

“Listen, Victor… I know that you hate me.” 

The man’s face turned into a terrible wince. “That’s a very simple way to phrase it. I despise you. I loathe you.” 

Anna intervened. “No, it’s not true! You hate the previous Fifth Spirit. My sister is different!” 

“I don’t care who’s the person with Ahtohallan’s magic, the Fifth Spirit is still an abomination!” Blurted Victor, yelling on the same tone than the redhead. “There should be no human allowed to have such powers!!”

“You have powers too.” Remarked Kristoff. 

“But I don’t use them to kill people.” 

Elsa gasped, outraged. “You killed two innocent Northuldra!” 

The man shrugged slightly. “That was collateral damage.” 

Honeymaren startled of rage and stepped forward. “IT WAS A FATHER AND HIS SON!!” 

Elsa restrained her by grabbing her arm. She also truly wanted to hurt Victor for his words, but they had to remain calm. The man noticed their anger.

“Nothing you will say will change my mind. Your powers will be mine, Ahtohallan will be mine, and The Fifth Spirit will pay for what it has done to me!” Blurted Victor. 

Anna gripped her sword hard with her two hands, pointing at him threateningly. 

“They’re not a ‘it’, they’re a person!” She blurted with even more verve. “And her name is ELSA!!” 

He looked scowled, yet it seemed like disgust. 

“I refuse to put a name on that being who’s nothing less than a murderer!” 

“For the last time, the previous Fifth Spirit was! Not Elsa!! You’ve got it all wrong!” Yelled Anna. 

Victor was done getting scolded. He flipped his hands, volutes of black goo appearing around his fingers and floating there, just like cold smoke around Elsa’s fingers when she loaded her magic. 

“I’m not coming back on my decision. I will rip the powers out of her body!” 

He had pointed at Elsa with an angry index finger, and it perspired with evil power. Honeymaren instinctively placed herself in front of her. The blonde internally sighed at the behavior of her sister and the reaction of her wife. This was going worse and worse and wouldn’t end well. She could feel the magic pulsating in the air at the man’s anger, so she stared into his eyes. 

“Victor, wait. If you do that, you’ll become the very thing you hated.” 

Elsa’s wise words crossed the night, and everyone looked at her. Even Victor got stunned and remained silent. She got a point, but he chose to ignore her. 

“I doubt of it. I will finally avenge my beloved wife!!” 

The blonde rose calming hands. “And I get it. Believe me, I really do. However, revenge isn’t the solution…” 

“ENOUGH!!” 

Anna was astonished by his persistence. 

“You will rip her powers, even if it means that she will probably die?” She winced. 

“I don’t care.” 

He had stated that in a cold, frigid voice. Eydis gasped at the tone. Kristoff widened his eyes. Anna and Honeymaren were outraged . Elsa… Remained silent. 

“You’re a cruel man with a heart of stone!” Shouted the Queen with a shocked wince, speaking from her guts. 

“I’m bringing justice!” Replied Victor on a strong tone. “I’m doing what needs to be done! She’s a monster!!” 

While they gasped, Elsa walked around Honeymaren and stepped forward, to everyone’s surprise. 

“I used to think I was.” She said. 

Her voice had been calm, deep, sincere. 

“There was a time when I would call myself a monster…” Muttered the Snow Queen. “But I have changed. And one thing is for sure, now… You’ll be way more of a monster that I’ll ever be if you continue to focus on vengeance.” 

“You changed?” Repeated Victor. “What makes you think you’re not still a monster, as you have the same powers than when you called yourself that?” 

Elsa sighed, a bit emotionally. “Because since, I have been guided to a new light. A new perspective. Since then, I have been helped by love. And learned that people actually loved me all along.” 

She paused her powerful speed to turn to Anna and Honeymaren, who were looking at her with touched smiles. “And they still love me every day.” 

“You think that love solves everything?” Frowned Victor. 

“Yes. I do.”

“BULLSHIT! Bring my wife back, then!” Bawled the man. 

Elsa did a move, but not the expected one. She melted her spear, and the two women behind them gasped in warning noises. 

The blonde rose her hand as a dismiss, assuring them that everything was alright. Kristoff remained rational; Elsa could craft a new spear any time she would want, and faster than it would take to say the word. So she wasn’t really putting herself in danger. She was being wise and showed Victor her true intentions. 

The man looked at her with a squint, surprised of her attitude. 

“Does loving yourself better make you lower your guard?” He snorted.

Elsa nodded softly. “Yes. Because I have changed, and you can too.” 

His facial features, which had calmed down a bit, returned to a twisted frown. 

“How dare you TALK about change when you took my WIFE!!” 

Dark energy emanated from him, making splashes of black slime spurt from his hands and all around his foot stomp. The dark pebbles of the shore got stained by it at the pale light of the Moon. 

“Once again, I didn’t.” Reminded Elsa with a calm voice, which was remarkable for the situation, because Victor’s sudden burst had brought everyone else to clench on their weapons and get ready to aim at him. 

“You seem really certain to be innocent.” He grunted. 

“That’s because I am.” 

She stared at him with intensity. “And I intend to be fair. This is the last fight we have. After that, you will face justice and pay for your crimes.” Warned Elsa. 

“Well, there’s at least one thing we agree on, Fifth Spirit.” He replied, his fists clenched. “This indeed will be our one and only face-to-face.” 

He looked around, now pensive. 

“I got to say, it’s a nice place to have it. If I had to pick, I would have hesitated between here and the entrance of the Forest.”

“The Elemental Stones?” Frowned Anna. 

“Yes. That. They would look great as battle ruins, wouldn’t they? Once they get destroyed with my vengeance.” 

“How dare you.” Muttered Honeymaren, who had chosen to stay silent until now, but couldn’t bear his arrogance any longer. “This is a sacred place. My ancestors built those stones.” 

“They have been made to honor Nature.” Specified Kristoff. “What do they have to do with your revenge over the Fifth Spirit?” 

“Well, this is a game-changing fight. You know my plan now, right? So you know that I want to destroy Ahtohallan and everything that the Fifth Spirit stands once and for all. What would be the point of worshipping the Nature Spirits when the person who’s supposed to bring the balance with the human world kill humans?” 

Anna clenched her jaw. “You know that your wife had it coming. She did crimes. The Fifth Spirit warned her, and yet she continued to do it.” 

Elsa turned to her with a deadly stare. The redhead understood that she had been a bit too far, and retracted a bit. However, she did not regret her words. 

The Snow Queen turned to the enemy again, focused and determined. “You will not touch a single inch of Ahtohallan as long as I stand.” 

Victor looked at her with a cruel smirk. “See, that can be arranged.” 

He flipped his arms up and two big spurts of pitch black goo jolted from it. 

Each one splitted in eight parts, and in a record time, a group of sixteen creatures emerged, forming from the slime. They all were taller than the humans, with muscular arms and solid blades as hands. As always, they had head shapes but no faces, which made the creepy atmosphere of the night even more scarier, added to the fact that they were more numerous than Elsa’s allies. 

“GO!” Shouted Victor as an order, and the monster ran to them unsteadily, their big feet splashing on the shore. 

Elsa hurried to go in front of her family and place herself first, as the first creature was jumping to slam its blade on them. With a yelping grunt, Elsa raised a giant ice stalagmite, as sharp as a razor, and it pierced right through the living thing. It tried to touch her despite being impaled, but with another yell, she pushed the stalagmite away in a new blue beam, and it jolted in the air, slamming two other monsters in one go. 

Honeymaren blinked as Elsa then crafted her ice spear back, and attacked a fourth monster that was making its way to them. She stabbed it right in the thigh, then grunted as she heavily twirled on herself with both hands on the shaft. She dragged the creature with her, and send it fly in the air with a powerful swing to slam another one. 

The Northuldra leader exchanged a stunned look with Anna, who was astonished as well. 

Did they… Even need to come to this fight? Was Elsa going to take care of everything on herself with her usual badassery? 

The blonde panted, twirling her spear, and turned to her loved ones with a huff. 

“No one harms my family.” 

Honeymaren smirked. 

“Leave some for the lowly people, my love.” 

Elsa smiled. 

A grunt on her right side took them out of their reverie. A monster was attacking Eydis and Kristoff, and they were trying to repel it. The Snow Queen frowned and was about to help them. 

Anna gave her a sign. “Wait, some are coming right at us. Let’s take care of them first.” 

The redhead ran to the monsters, her golden armor shining in the Moonlight, and slayed one in a swift move; she beheaded a second one with a brilliant twirl, her second hand on the pommel of her unique sword for faster actions. 

Honeymaren aimed at the ones on her side with quick and effective arrows. When one of them was threatening to charge at her, Elsa ran and slammed her foot on the ground, a wall of ice emerging and letting the monster splash on it with a dumb move. She rounded her creation, and while the dizzy thing tried to retrieve its form and balance, she planted it with her spear against the wall. It vanished like any the others once it got killed, and the blonde had a smirk, twirling the spear around happily. 

She saw at the corner of her eye - and almost instinctively - that a monster was about to attack Anna from behind. She focused in a frown, tossed her spear up in the air and lifted her arm to catch it with her fingers up, holding it javelin-style. She aimed, gathered momentum and threw her spear across the shore. It whistled in the air and hit the creature right in the head. With the force of the blow, it vanished before it would even fall on the pebbles. Anna finished slaying her own enemy with style, then turned around at the sound of the spear falling on the pebbles. 

She blinked in confusion, picked up the weapon, then looked at her sister in the distance. 

‘Did you just?’ She seemed to say with her amazed eyes. 

‘Saved your life? Yep.’ Seemed to answer Elsa with a grin and a shrug. 

‘Awesome’, replied Anna, and this time it was obvious because she really said that word out loud and it was easy to read it on her lips. 

Elsa outstretched her hand and the spear in Anna’s hand seemed to vibrate, like it was struggling to get out of her grasp. She unfolded her fingers, and the spear flew in the air to arrive in Elsa’s palm, then the Snow Queen made it twirl expertly, ready to attack new creatures. 

“Show-off.” Scoffed Anna. 

Elsa went to help Ryder and Eydis. They had a lot of talent and she admitted after a while that she only was there as mere support. She took that opportunity to observe the battlefield around her. 

Honeymaren and Kristoff now were taking care of Victor, the blond facing him with his axe blows while her wife aimed at him with her arrows. Only, he was crafting monsters faster than light, and they took all of the blows for him. With a smirk, he made every monster die and vanish instead of actually fighting back. 

Elsa found that utterly shameful. How could a person fitted with magic powers and able to create living beings sacrifice them like pawns, or meatshields? She frowned with disgust, not liking Victor’s ways at all. He was a disgrace to magic, and she felt the same emotion than when she had discovered her grandfather’s aversion for the Northuldra. 

Fueled by her anger, she melted her spear then threw an ice blow at him to freeze his legs, but he sensed her magic arriving so he dodged aside. Thankfully, it didn’t touch Honeymaren who was in the trajectory, because she had an excellent sight and saw the accidental blue glow arrive to her. She jumped aside to get away from it as it crashed on the shore and formed a giant snowflake trap, and meanwhile, didn’t lose time by drawing another arrow. 

Elsa was about to charge a second ice blow, and then was struck by a flashing image of the previous Fifth Spirit who had inflicted the same move to Victor when he was younger during the famous attack that haunted her. She clenched her fist, holding on her promise that she would never act like the old Northuldra leader. 

She crafted her spear again and chose to go to battle in her own style. 

She went to help Eydis with the remaining creatures that she somehow was taking care of by herself, Anna busy helping Ryder stand up after he fell during an attack. With a smile, Elsa admired her niece twirling her powerful and heavy mace around, exploding the monsters’ heads between two rolls. She was sparkling at the light of the Moon in her silver armor, and the Snow Queen was really proud of her. In a combined attack of sword and spear, Anna and her killed the last monster that Victor had created, and smiled at each other, panting. 

They finally got rid of his creatures, but everyone knew that he would create new ones without breaking a sweat. At least, Elsa was able to do so, and she was the only person they could compare him to. Might as well be careful and expect that he was as talented as her. Indeed, he had gotten rid of Kristoff and Honeymaren, and seemed ready to craft new monsters. He groaned as he lifted his palms again. 

“Block his hands!” Yelled Elsa, pointing at him. “If we block his arms, he won’t be able to make those monsters anymore!” 

Anna nodded. Her elder knew well what she was talking about. Hers and victor’s magic may be very different, it had one thing in common: their living creations were crafted with their hands.

Kristoff, who was the closest to Victor after he and Honeymaren had fallen down, frowned in determination as he jumped up, then lifted his arms to hit him. He flipped his axe in the air, aiming not with the blade side but with the hammer one, and slammed down to where his shoulder was. At such a speed and with Elsa’s unbreakable ice, he would at least dislocate it, thought Ryder, who had run to join the King’s side. However, Victor had army experience, and avoided his blow. 

“That wasn’t a really impressive attack.” Puffed the enemy with sarcasm. 

“But a really useful diversion.” Said a smiling voice behind him. 

He didn’t finish twirling around that a massive blunt weapon descended upon his arm. Victor groaned in pain when Eydis’ mace slammed him. He immediately wanted to lift his arm to push away the weapon, but Eydis’ move had been close to perfection and he couldn’t do much with the angle he now had after her blow. He tried to detached his arm from the blades and spikes, but it was impossible; first, because the fabric of his sleeve had been stuck in it, and second, because Eydis was really great at maintaining the mace in place. He tried to push her with the force of his arm, but she grinned as she easily kept him still to where he was, holding the mace with both hands. 

He blinked in astonishment. How could such a little girl have as much strength? He then realized that with the parents she had, it wasn’t surprising. He had made a grave mistake to undervalue her. Victor yelled in frustration, and was about to punch her with his other fist, but he got stuck. 

“What…?”

He turned to his other side, and came face to face with a grinning Ryder. 

“Surprise, monstermaker.” 

Victor gritted his teeth at the sight of Ryder’s staff effectively restraining her elbow and preventing him from making any move. 

He tried to get out of his trap, but it made things worse; the Northuldra had anticipated any possible parade and knew how to hold him still as well. Victor then realized that Ryder’s parade had in fact blocked his right hand. He muttered a line of insults. Seriously? The two younger opponents were the ones disabling him? Eydis smirked as she saw Victor’s despair in his eyes thanks to how close she was. With a grunt, she pushed even stronger on her mace. The Northuldra also pressed harder with his staff. Both him and Eydis couldn’t help smirking at Victor’s struggle. 

Elsa observed the scene and admitted that it was a funny situation too. She had joked earlier in the day how Ryder might be the one who would strike the final blow on Victor, because there was no way one would expect someone with the weakest weapon and the less protection to be a threat. Turned out that she was quite right. 

In fact, not even her could have predicted what was about to follow. 

Ryder changed his grip on his staff to hold the man in place, looking at the splashes of his magic on the ground. 

“You know, there’s something else that is black and that I’d love you to discover.” Grinned Ryder. 

Victor raised a surprised eyebrow at his sudden confidence. 

“Meet explosive powder.” 

The leather pouch he had at his waist, and that the old man thought was simply holding provisions, suddenly flipped upside down and opened when Ryder pulled on a string attached to it. 

Victor’s attention got brought to it and he looked down, giving exactly the intended time for the Northuldra to jump back. 

The mysterious dark powder had fell in a stack on Victor’s right boot, and he frowned as he tried to understand why Ryder had poured ground pepper on his feet. 

“EYDIS!! NOW!!” Yelled the Northuldra. 

Victor jolted his head up, and only then he noticed that the fiery princess had jumped back too. With a grin and a grunt, she lifted her mace to her vambrace covering her forearm. She turned it skillfully so that an iron blade and not an ice one would rasp against the metal part of the armor, and aimed at the stack of powder. With a scratch, a spark flew straight through the air, and Victor saw it fall with wide and terrorized eyes right in the stack of powder. 

The explosion blow was spectacular. In a deafening bang, it made Victor jolt in the air, and Ryder and Eydis got blown away for a few meters despite their safety distances. Thankfully, they fell on their backs like they had planned, loudly but without damage thanks to the pads they had placed on their outfits just for that purpose. 

One could not say the same for Victor, who got injured at the foot, and now grunted as he had trouble standing up without limping. 

Elsa blinked at what had just happened. 

“What the… Did you know they would do that?” She asked her wife, and she saw her happy smirk. “Why didn’t you tell me?” 

Honeymaren reached for a new arrow in her quiver, and gave her a sarcastic stare. “Well, you were busy being nerdy in Ahtohallan when we built our strategy.” 

The blonde was about to react, but she rose a hand. “Now is not the time to get teasy. Look, he’s about to blow again.” 

Indeed, Victor was clenching his fists and staring at the too-happy family of warriors facing him. 

“Okay, now I’m mad. You’ll face my wrath.” 

He was enraging. And just to make him even more angry, as he stepped forward to personally punch Ryder, an arrow planted right in front of him. 

“Make one more step and the next one goes in your knee.” Menaced Honeymaren with a cold voice. 

He looked up with a grumble and saw that she was aiming at him, her next ice arrow at the ready. During his years in the army, he had always despised archery. 

“A bow… The weapon of cowards.” 

Eydis huffed. “Says the one who uses magic from a distance!” 

“Also, with the skills that it requires to be efficient at hunting, I wouldn’t say that’s is a pathetic weapon.” Remarked Anna. 

“Yeah, my aim is quite good.” Said Honeymaren, still with her threatening eyes, but smiling internally at the words of her sister-in-law. 

She remembered a day some years ago when she had tried to teach the Queen how to use a bow. But the redhead lacked of patience and was more of the ‘attack first’ type of person. 

“Oooh, I’m so scared.” Eye-rolled Victor. 

Elsa was impressed by his assurance. This being said, he had no idea how scary a pissed-of Honeymaren could get. 

The man walked forward, and in a whistle, another arrow planted among the pebbles in front of his feet. He stopped with a grumble. 

“Yes, it will indeed start to get… Very annoying.” 

He stared at the Northuldra, and swiftly moved his right hand. A sharpened solid splurt of dark magic rose from the shore in less than a second and pierced right through Honeymaren’s hand, which she used to draw arrows. In a loud scream, she dropped her weapon and bent with a painful wince. She was bleeding abundantly. 

“MAREN!” Screamed Anna, rushing at her side. 

She grunted that she was fine, but it was an obvious lie. 

Ryder exploded of rage. “YOU BASTARD!” 

“Using big words now, ain’t we?” Puffed Victor. “Actually, you know what? This wasn’t big enough. That didn’t deserve a ‘bastard’ yet. I’m gonna hurt her more.” 

Elsa barged in between him and her wife and stared at him like her eyes came from the core of arctic glaciers itself. 

“Don’t even dare to move your hands at her one more time.” 

Ironically, she was raising glowing blue ones in his direction, and the air around them had fallen of many degrees. 

Honeymaren’s heart filled so much love that it was like all the pain and spilled blood didn’t exist anymore. She smiled at her wife’s intervention, adorable and badass at the same time. 

When Victor took a careful stop, Elsa looked behind her, still pointing at him. 

“Are you okay, Honey?” 

“Y-yeah, I think I can get over it. But you’re gonna have to do without me from now on.” 

Elsa gave a sad look to her lover’s twisted face. Ryder urged to rip a part of his tunic to craft a makeshift bandage. It stopped the bleeding for now, but would need closer inspection. 

To Victor’s ears, however, Honeymaren’s last sentence sounded like music. Yes. Incapacitate each and every ally of the Fifth Spirit so they couldn’t use their weapons. That was a clever follow-up. 

He barely flicked his wrist and a spurt of goo splashed away from his palm right towards Anna. Elsa’s eyes widened and she immediately rose a giant ice shield with a slam of the foot. 

The slime splashed on the surface, and she groaned as she turned to him again. 

“Stop that at once!!” 

Anna twirled her sword in a menacing ‘woosh’. “Oh, if he doesn’t stop it, I will make him stop. I hate surprise attacks. You’re the coward one!” 

“Coward?” Repeated Victor with a slight evil giggle. “You talked about skill earlier. Don’t you think it’s skilled that I can reach to spots… That I don’t even see?” 

He flicked his wrist again, and Anna tried to understand what he meant. Suddenly, the pebbles on her right moved in a creak sound, and dark slime gushed from the ground to splash at her arm, right at the interstice between the elbow and forearms parts of her armor. She let out a scream and a hiss at the burning pain that seized her suddenly, and dropped her sword. 

Elsa twirled around. What?? He had aimed at her even though she was standing behind her blurred ice shield? And so precisely that it went through the flaws of an armor? 

The Snow Queen started to panic as she admitted that Victor had the experience of battle, and knew exactly what to do from now on. 

“No...” She muttered, but it was too late. 

She twirled to Kristoff and Eydis, who had been standing side by side. The King had turned his head at Anna’s scream, wondering what just happened. 

“Kristoff! Watch out!!” Warned the blonde. 

It was a mistake to call him. He looked at her, wondering what the danger was, and Victor smirked. With a jolt of the wrist, he sent another spurt of dark magic to him, and it hit him at the head. 

“KRISTOFF!!” 

Anna, who had been inspecting her wound, caught up on the scene too late. Elsa, who thought until now that she had the advantage of speed, was frightened to discover that Victor was as talented as her; in a few seconds, he had harmed three persons. 

Elsa jumped over her ice shield, enlarged it without looking at it, and hurried to her brother-in-law. 

“I’m fine.” He assured, but then he grunted when he felt the pulsating pain on her skull. “I’ve got a… You know.” Maybe that a regular person would have died from such a magic blow, but he was fine. Only, he started to feel dizzy, and went on his knees, his hand preventing him from falling on the pebbles entirely. 

“Papa!” 

Elsa saw Eydis crouch next to him, but also felt at the same time magic flow through the air. Victor’s next target was her niece. Pitch black goo went to the spot between her shoulder and her neck, where she only wore a coat of mail. Elsa turned still in terror. So he had noticed every single flaw of their outfits. 

The young princess fell forward with a cry. 

“Her too?!” Yelled Ryder, like this was the last straw. “How dare you hurt a CHILD?!” 

He started to run to Victor, screaming a war shout, and the man just cackled. 

“Ryder!! NO!!” Panicked Elsa. 

Victor was faster at injuring Ryder than it would take her to raise a wall in front of him to prevent any step further. 

A slime dart splashed to his knee, and he fell with a moan to the ground. 

“NO!” Whined the blonde, seeing the worst happening, and continuing to happen. 

They were all wincing in pain and clenching their eyes shut at the horrible sensation that the dark magic made as it burnt their skin in a unique way. 

Victor laughed like a maniac. 

“You fools! You’re all like preys to me. Tiny, little, weak preys. This is just too easy when one has been practicing for years.” 

He wiggled his fingers in a ‘buh-bye’ gesture, and it both was sarcastic and meaningful. Elsa quickly understood that he was getting in the final part of his plan. Now it was only her facing him, and he knew very well that she would never dare to give him injuries like the one he struck. 

Elsa gulped. All of her allies on the battlefield were wounded, and she couldn’t even take the time to heal them; Victor now was getting all of her attention. 

“This is over, Fifth Spirit. You’ll face justice.” 

“No! This isn’t justice! This is pure and abominable cruelty!!” Blurted Honeymaren, still in pain, and accusing him through gritted teeth. 

“Shut up, Northuldra. Or I pierce your second hand. It won’t be hard.” 

Elsa frowned with rage. “Don’t talk to my wife like that.” 

She stepped forward, detaching from the others to come closer to him. Anna admired how brave and independent she was to step forward. Honeymaren didn’t like much how it made her go away from her. 

Victor raised an eyebrow as she walked for long seconds and now was away from her peers, halfway between them and him. 

“You think you can threaten me? I have weakened your family. I’m able to rip your magic out of you anytime. You’re not in a position of strength.” 

The blonde clenched her jaw. She indeed wasn’t, but had the tiny hope that he didn’t notice. Only, even if he didn’t have a strategist mind, Victor was far from dumb. He was determined, which made him a fearsome enemy. 

“That’s what makes it unfair!” Underlined Elsa. “You have this ability to rip magic out of others, and I don’t.” 

“Because you don’t want to find about this ability.” Scoffed the man. “While you were busy being lame and weak, I studied this art. But being in harmony with Nature is more important, I guess.” 

Elsa’s heart clench at that double judgement. He had demeaned both her magic skills and her job. 

“You’ve got a lot of nerve…” She hissed. 

He sighed. “Yes, a very little patience. Now I am done waiting. This delay has gone on too long.” 

He twirled his fingers, but instead of making dark slike appear there like the Snow Queen thought he would do, he seemed to gather his magic. 

Elsa quickly rose her hands in a dismissing gesture. “Victor, no. Hold on. Remember what I said: if you do that, you’ll become the very thing you hated.” 

“Don’t try to influence me!!” Yelled the man. 

“I’m only saying the truth!!” Swore Elsa. “I’ve done many mistakes in my life to advise you on that, trust me!!” 

“STOP IT!” He groaned, his fists now exuding strong energy. “I’m putting an end to the Fifth Spirit’s existence, right here and right now!” 

Elsa’s eyes widened at his brisk move, realizing he was genuinely about to do the magic pullout. She rose her arms even higher, in an imploring gesture. 

“This magic is who I am, Victor…” Confessed Elsa. 

Her sentence was so emotional that it placed them in the silence of the night for a moment. Honeymaren widened her eyes.  

“It’s part of her identity! If she loses her magic, she loses a part of herself!” She insisted. “You can’t do that!” 

“Oh, I assure you that I can.” 

He started to move his arms in a combination of moves that he had never done before, and Anna widened her eyes. She really didn’t want to see him try. 

“We have to kill him before he does it!” She yelled to her elder, desperate.

“No, no…” 

The Fifth Spirit refused to come to such an act. 

“We can’t do that!” She yelled back to Anna behind her. 

“Elsa!” Scolded Honeymaren, agreeing with her sister-in-law. “If we don’t do it now, it will be too late!!” 

The two women had been alternating their panicked gazes between the blonde and the enemy, who kept making those unique moves that really heightened the urgency. 

“ELSA!” Called their voices behind her. 

“Let me think!!” Shouted Elsa back, her closed fists trembling. 

Her breathing sped up. What to do? What to do? Victor was gathering his magic. Whatever he was preparing wasn’t bluff. The danger was genuine. 

Honeymaren didn’t like this at all. All of her instinct was screaming that this wouldn’t end well. Anna now understood why she got a bad feeling when they had come to the shore on Nokk. This was it. This was the end. 

They had lost. 

Victor retracted his fists back, his hands pouring with magic. The Snow Queen knew this posture way too well. He was about to blow a very powerful magic move. He locked his eyes with her.

“No, Victor, wait…” Begged Elsa. 

“Too late. I’ve been waiting for this moment longer than you’ve been alive.” 

He gave her a cruel look, and launched his arms forward, his palms open. Widening her eyes was the last thing Elsa could do. 

She suddenly spasmed, like she got seized by a giant invisible hand that just squeezed her whole body. Her eyes turned up and she revulsed, her breathing lost in a strangling noise, and she fainted, falling to the pebbles in a sinister sound. “ELSA!” Yelled Honeymaren. 

“NO!!” Screamed Anna. 

They both ran like hell to the unconscious body of their loved one, but Victor kept aiming and continued his process. 

A light suddenly emanated from every pore of Elsa’s skin, flashing suddenly, and the two women stopped running in a gasp, wincing as she suddenly became entirely bright white. In any other context, Honeymaren would have felt like she was blessed by the sight of an angel. But now, she screamed in anguish. 

“NOOOO!!” 

She ran to take her lover in her arms, when suddenly a shock wave blew from Elsa’s body, and she got blasted away, rejected in the pebbles violently in a backward roll. Kristoff stopped her and prevented her from a whiplash. Stunned, she tried to stand up as soon as possible to try again, determined and oblivious. Although, the wind started to rise, and became incredibly strong, making it even impossible to approach within a twenty-meter radius. 

It was like one of Gale’s tornados had been combined with the most powerful light Honeymaren had ever seen. Anna felt like she was staring directly into a lighthouse. Everyone experienced that moment differently, but all agree on one point: magic was exploding through the air, filling every possible spot. It even felt like it went everywhere and sneaked in every place; Eydis felt like it was going through her hair like rain, and Kristoff felt like it was going into his eyes like the heat of flames would do in a giant fire. 

It was intense and unstoppable. Soon they were projected even further from Elsa because the gust of magical energy started to fortify around her. Victor focused even more on the process, his arms outstretched, unreachable from where he was. The magic process started to lift the Spirit’s body from the shore, and it floated above the pebbles, soon reaching three meters high. 

“Elsa!!” Screamed Anna behind her arms, placed to avoid getting blinded by the magic beam. 

It was obvious that her sister couldn’t reply, completely unconscious. With the wind, she wouldn’t have been able to hear her anyway. 

The Snow Queen’s body flipped like a lifeless doll on a horizontal plan, and looked like she was suspended by an invisible thread that was attached to her navel. Perfectly balanced, her head, arms and legs were hanging in the air, with only her core raising to the sky. 

Then the light started to detach from her. It was no longer a figure of speech; everything that made Elsa magical was leaving her body. It elevated in swirls, packing in one spot and one sphere, and it slowly hovered to Victor. 

Elsa’s family members gasped as they guessed what it meant. The man laughed out loud in a sinister cackle, and suddenly widened his arms, his head up, like he was on top of the world. 

The bright white sphere jolted through the air and went right to his body in a second, like it had been pumped, or dragged with the force of the universe. It entered his navel, and he startled at the sensation, then laughed even more. His body shone the same way, but it faded as the magic sank into his core. 

Then, the second the light stopped emanating, Elsa’s body fell to the ground, and the magic gust disappeared. 

It was like time had suddenly stopped, and yet it hadn’t. In fact, it felt unfair that it hadn’t actually stopped. Elsa’s body had dropped to the ground, motionless, and yet the waves kept rolling, and yet the wind kept blowing, and yet the entire world didn’t come to a halt to watch the Snow Queen fall. 

A feeling of unfairness added itself to the mountain of emotions that piled in Anna’s heart. At the top, reigned terror. 

“ELSA!!” 

She ran to her elder’s still body, and kneeled heavily next to her. 

“No, gods, no…” 

She checked her state, shook her arms, yelled her name again and again… But nothing happened. Elsa didn’t respond, her face and muscles limp. 

Honeymaren dropped heavily next to her, her weapon also left behind. All that mattered now was Elsa, Elsa, Elsa. 

Their hearts squeezed with the same intensity, yet not the same reasons: Anna was terrorised, and Honeymaren devastated. 

‘No, not again… This can’t be happening… This can’t be real… This is one of those nightmares… Please, no, for the love of gods, please don’t make me go through this again. Please don’t make me live that once more. I can’t do it. I’m not strong enough. I lied each time I said I was when someone asked about that night. I’m not strong enough. I can’t face that again. Please, Elsa, wake up... ‘ Thought Anna, and tears fell heavily on her cheeks as she winced. 

‘Don’t go, Elsa, please, love of my life, please don’t leave me. I’m begging you. I’m begging the sky, I’m begging Ahtohallan, I’m begging all of Nature from the tiniest speck of dust to the tallest mountain of the world. Please, snømus, please… Open your eyes… Open your beautiful and mighty eyes… I can’t live without you. You’re my light, and I can already feel the colors of the world disappearing if you’re not here to shed light on them. Please, Elsa, wake up…’ Thought Honeymaren, her shoulders trembling, and she rubbed her eyes violently to see Elsa’s face clearly. 

But even if the blonde’s face was as graceful as usual, she did not respond. How could she be so stunning in that final moment? 

The Northuldra leader looked down at her left hand where she was holding the one of her wife. A shiver passed along her back as she looked at her ice ring. The object which held the highest importance in her life now made her feel a mix of disgust and anger. 

Her lover’s magic now was in possession of this horrible man. Everything that made Elsa who she is got stolen from her. The ring she had at her finger was now linked to the core of this monster. 

Honeymaren’s teeth gritted as she frowned, roamed with rage, and she dropped Elsa’s hand to search for her knife at her waist. She suddenly stood up, and all the calm and level-headed behavior that normally forged her personality got swept away, as powerfully as the wind in her hair. 

“YOU VILE AND SICKENING SON OF A--” 

“MAREN!” 

A strong hand held her by the crook of her elbow, and she got stopped in her run. 

“LET ME GO!” She yelled with all she could, tears falling on her face. She didn’t need to focus and erase them to know that Anna was the one who was stopping her. 

She could feel how strong yet trembling the hand was. She could feel how equally devastated the redhead was by a simple touch. Victor had harmed a wife, but he had also harmed a sister. 

When she turned to Anna, she was unable to see yet heard the sobs that agitated the Queen, who was reduced to a trembling younger sibling. 

“D-don’t become like h-him.” She begged, her voice hitched with sorrow. 

The Northuldra fell next to her, and the two women held their hands as they looked at Elsa again. The others had approached and were flabbergasted, unable to believe what was happening. 

Kristoff looked around frantically as he realized an odd detail. Nothing made out of magic ice had melted. Ice arrows were still scattered around, the ice blade of Anna’s sword was intact, and the raised shields that Elsa had made here and there were still present. More importantly, the blonde was inert on the pebbles, but her outfit hadn’t changed a bit. 

“Wait… I don’t get it… If her magic’s gone, then why are her clothes still in this state?” Muttered Kristoff. 

Eydis frowned as she thought fast. 

“The process rips her magic… So it transported it... Her magic went somewhere… But where?” 

Victor cackled evily from where he was standing. 

He flicked his right wrist, and wiggled his fingers. Snowflakes popped out of his palm. “Found it.” 

Eydis gasped. He had succeeded. 

The snowflakes twirled around his hand, and he looked at it with a satisfied expression.

“I gotta say, the sensation is quite interesting.” Commented Victor, wiggling his body as he felt the ice and snow course in his veins. 

The brunette was simply disgusted by his behavior. She couldn’t help imagining that it was like Elsa’s soul and essence was in him, and he was squirming in pleasure. It made her feel like she was watching him ravish her wife. She forced herself to focus on Elsa instead of him, holding her beloved in her arms even closer. 

“Say, is it me, or the air of the night warmed up a bit?” He asked in a playful tone. He then snapped as he understood - and his mastering of the magic wasn’t quite perfect yet, so it sparkled some snowflakes around - “Wait, I get it. It’s because of the ice and snow, right? The bender isn’t bothered by cold. That’s why I feel like there’s no more of that fresh sea breeze.” 

Honeymaren suddenly noticed something. She was too busy being heartbroken until now to see it. 

“That’s why Elsa’s body is shivering now…” She murmured, feeling the skin under her hands. 

Anna looked down at her sister’s body in alarm. Elsa was unconscious, but her body was still alive; and now it was struggling to stay so, trembling and spasming. 

“Oh my gods, because she’s wearing ice but isn’t immune to it anymore!” Gasped the redhead, suddenly struck by the horrible situation.

They all gasped. Honeymaren’s brain worked faster than light and she immediately took off a leather layer of her outfit to cover her trembling wife with it. Kristoff hurried to come closer and fell on his knees, making the pebbles creak. 

“No, no, that won’t be enough, we have to take her out of her clothes, now!” 

If Honeymaren didn’t know the King’s personality and his ice harvester experience, she would think that he was trying to bare her wife. Thankfully, it was obvious that he ordered to act urgently and do emergency procedures, just like when one of his harvesters peers had fallen through the ice of a frozen lake. 

They nodded and started to take off her crafted custom-made ice armor… And realized two seconds later that they couldn’t. All of them had tried to tug on a different part, but it was impossible to take it off Elsa’s skin. 

“I can’t detach her poleyn.” Complained Eydis with a weak and disappointed voice. “Doesn’t it have a fastening strap?”

“Where is the outline of it?” Frowned Ryder, confused. 

“There’s none.” Said Anna and Honeymaren in one low voice. 

Kristoff gulped. “She crafted it flawlessly. Each part of the armor has been tailor-made with her magic, so there’s no joint… And only her can melt them.”  

They all widened their eyes at the finding. 

“Wait… Maybe… That her ice against her ice…” Blabbered the blond man, searching for ideas as he panted in panic. He stumbled trying to get up to fetch his axe where he had dropped it, so Eydis went to it for him. She picked the axe with emotion, looking at the beautiful detailed blade. This creation probably was the last one that she will have seen her aunt make… With a sob, she gave it to his father, and he slid the blade of the axe along a piece of armor over Elsa’s chest, right above her heart, the spot they really needed to take care of first. But it didn’t do anything. Despite Kristoff’s long and strong efforts, neither the blade or the flexible plate of thick magic got scratched. His cheeks red, he was out of breath, and dropped the axe down. He gave Honeymaren the saddest eyes she had ever seen on the King’s face. 

Honeymaren gasped. “No. Nonono, this can’t be happening, this can’t be happening…” 

She hovered her lover’s twitching body and rubbed as much skin as possible, at each and every spot that wasn’t covered with those ice armor parts that they all started to hate. 

“Please get warm, p-please get warm…” She mumbled, hiccups cutting her sentence because her throat tightened. Her heavy tears fell and splashed on Elsa’s pale and unconscious face. 

Ryder was devastated to observe that all colors had left the Snow Queen’s cheeks, and even her normally pink lips had turned white. But it wasn’t the beautiful snow white color that the tribe associated to the Fifth Spirit’s unique aura; it was the white of death. Elsa’s heart was slowing down and would soon stop. 

Anna clenched her teeth as her tears fell over and over. She held Elsa’s cold hand in hers and twirled to Victor. 

“PLEASE!” She implored, her voice distorted by terror. “Please do something!! Please melt it, melt the ice, or she’ll die of hypothermia!!” 

The man didn’t move an inch. 

“DO SOMETHING!!” Yelled the Queen with all the force in her lungs, or rather what remained, after she cried and screamed so much. 

She turned to clench Elsa’s arms as her elder’s body trembled from the cold and Honeymaren’s rubs, and she could feel that it didn’t change anything. Elsa’s skin was simply the coldest she had ever felt. Even during bad days when the blonde was feeling down, it hadn’t reached such a low temperature. 

“We need to try a cardiac massage.” Suggested Honeymaren, with a tone overfilled with the acknowledgement that it was useless, but she refused not to make an attempt. 

Anna gave her way so she could place herself above Elsa’s chest and along her arm, even though she knew that it was pointless as well. Indeed, when the brunette tried to start pumping up and down with her overlapped hands, she got blocked by the incredibly solid matter of the ice armor. She tried, tried and tried, with all the rage and despair she had in her soul, but it didn’t even shatter. 

She violently screamed and punched the pebbles on the shore next to her knees repeatedly. Ryder gave her a sad look and was about to put a hand on her shoulder, but Honeymaren tossed it away and bent to kiss her wife. She had meant to combine mouth-to-mouth with the cardiac massage, but the second her lips touch Elsa’s, she startled and cried at the sensation of how desperately cold they were. With trembling shoulders, she pulled back, and clenched the ice shoulder-pieces. 

She sobbed at the idea that Elsa was about to die in two minutes or so, and there was absolutely nothing they could do about it. Her heart would stop beating, her stunning energy that guided Honeymaren day and night would stop existing, her beautiful smile would never reappear on her face, and her deep azure blue eyes would never land on her again with her unique sly and quiet balance, her unique sarcastic and wise temperament. No, Elsa’s eyes would forever stay close like they were now, and her body would remain cold. And it wasn’t the gentle cold that made her who she were, that was her distinctive feature, her peculiarity that drove Honeymaren crazy in love everytime she would roam her hands along her face and body, or when they got even more intimate. This time, it was the end. It was the final cold. In a while, before the Moon even finished its course in the sky, Elsa’s last heartbeat would echo on the shore, and her soul abandon her on the dark pebbles. 

“No… Elsa… Please… Please, I’m begging you…” 

She had a wince and gritted her teeth as new tears fell abundantly from her face, falling on the cold matter of her outfit, that Elsa could no longer control. 

Anna was crying her eyes out as well, her shoulders trembling next to her, holding her sister’s arms and face as she could despite her shaking. 

Both could not see Elsa’s face anymore, because their sight was blur with tears. 

Behind Honeymaren, Ryder had crouched and was putting a hand on the brunette’s shoulder, trying to be a strong brother who would help her go through this, but he was unable to find the strength he was looking for. His hand turned into a clenching fist, holding the leather piece on Honeymaren’s shoulder and trembling as he cried as well. 

Kristoff was so shocked that tears couldn’t even come to his eyes. He couldn’t believe what he was living, his head feeling like in the worst nightmare. Instinctively, he lifted his eyes to his wife, searching in Anna’s face an indication that this was all a joke. But when he saw the absolute wreck that the redhead had become, her eyes and nose running a flood of tears, his heart got split in half just as powerfully as if a sword had sliced it. A physical shock to his chest suddenly took him out of his devastated reverie; he looked down and saw that Eydis had launched herself in his lap and was curling against him, her arms around his armor. He couldn’t see her face, but there was no need. Her tiny silver spaulders were shaking in sorrow and he could feel her gloved fingers dugged in his back. The top of her dutch braids was shivering as she had her forehead against him. With all the might he could assemble, he bent down and kissed his daughter’s head, passing a hand along her locks to calm her. 

However, he knew that no one in the family, no one among them five, would ever get over what had just happen, and what was about to happen. 

Victor stared at the scene with a mute expression. He was silent during all of his sobbing. He was intrigued. 

But what he didn’t understand wasn’t the behavior they had around Elsa’s body. What he didn’t understand was the feeling he was having. 

What was this sensation? Was it… Sadness? No, it couldn’t be. Why would he feel sad for the Fifth Spirit’s death? He had everything he needed! He got her powers, he now was unstoppable, she would soon die and he could even depart for Ahtohallan right now. His plan was complete. His revenge was triumphant. He was the victorious one. 

Then, how come he didn’t move? Why couldn’t he go? What was stopping him? 

Victor was paralysed by this sensation. He even wanted to grunt at this unknown thing stopping him, but he didn’t find the strength to do so. Then it hit him; he was compassionate. 

‘What the hell…’ He thought. ‘Why am I having pity for those losers? I am the victorious one. I won. I avenged Niks.’ 

He stared at the trembling family once again. 

‘Then why am I feeling sadness? Is it sadness? Or is it… Something else? Is it… Worse?’ 

He couldn’t move, still trying to pinpoint this sensation. 

He was in denial. He refused to admit that Elsa and the Fifth Spirit he had met were two different persons, with different lives, and who made different choices. They didn’t have the same personalities, they didn’t have the same intentions. Yet he rejected the idea that he couldn’t avenge Niks by hurting her. 

He was angry. Fueled by rage. Each of his attacks until now had been with the mental image of his wife in mind. She would pay for all his suffering. 

He was bargaining. A life for a life. That was the plan. Once the Fifth Spirit magic becomes his, this vendetta will be fair. That murderer will have what they deserved. 

He was depressed. Those last years had been horrible to him, and took him down mentally and physically. Every time he closed his eyes at night, he thought of his wife. There was no way to dismiss it. 

But he wasn’t accepting. He never accepted that Niks died. All he ever wanted for so many years since her death was to avenge her. It was what fueled his life, what dictated his acts, what made him go forward in life. 

Then why were they all kneeled on the shore around her still body? Why didn’t then want to kill him? Why didn’t they react the same way than he did? 

The Queen had stopped the Northuldra leader to prevent her from giving in to temptation. But this was long ago now. The Northuldra wasn’t held by the monarch anymore. She could totally stand up and run to him and grab her dagger to cut his throat. She could even simply run and punch him in the face. But she didn’t why. Why didn’t she? None of them was retained by the other. Why was none of them avenging her, for heaven’s sake? If he were them, he would already have taken advantage of the enemy’s presence at the scene-- Yet that was it. He wasn’t them. 

They weren’t murderers. They didn’t have crime in their list of solutions. They didn’t plan to kill him. In fact, he realized, they would never plan to kill him, even after the Fifth Spirit’s death. 

“Elsa.” Said the echo of the Queen’s voice in his mind. “Her name is Elsa.” 

Victor was struck by the vision of this family. They never considered murder. That simply wasn’t who they were. They were peaceful, they were pacifists. None of them even had their heads turned to him. He could even attack them by surprise and stab them all with ice impalements like his wife had been killed, and yet they wouldn’t even mind. ‘Let it be so’, they would surely say. 

His knees buckled. 

When he slammed the pebbles, the noise attracted Anna’s attention, and she turned weakly to him. She rubbed her eyes to stop seeing blur and watched Victor. Her eyes widened when she saw that he was seated on his heels, his shoulder slumped, his hands on the ground along his thighs like a disjointed puppet. 

His hands, of a power yet phenomenal, that could snap the whole Forest out of existence if he intended to. On the ground. 

She blinked in confusion. Was he… Was he devastated? What had happened? 

“Victor?” 

The redhead surprised herself at her own voice. Her subconscious seemed to have been the one calling for his name, because she didn’t even remember her brain forming the question. Her tone had been calm, soft, gentle even. She was about to ask ‘Are you okay?’, but forbid herself to pronounce those words, repelled by her own intentions. Was she feeling bad for him now? Wait, what?? 

Because he looked so sad. He looked like his wife had just died a second time in front of his eyes. It was like… 

Gears clipped together in Anna’s brain. 

He had realized that he was inflicting the same thing that the previous Fifth Spirit had inflicted on him. 

“She was right…” He muttered, so far and nearly imperceptibly that Anna almost didn’t hear. “I have become the very thing I hate…” 

They exchanged a gaze, Victor’s eyes now locking with her. 

“Wait… Are you about to…” 

He nodded, and stepped forward. The Northuldra leader’s protective instinct made her protect her lover’s body with an almost predatory snarl. 

Victor rose innocent hands, stepping slower. 

“STAY BACK!” Shrieked the brunette. 

“No, Honeymaren, wait!!” 

“What?!” She blurted, annoyed that Anna prevented her from doing what she wanted. 

“He’ll give her magic back.” 

The Northuldra leader blinked. The others did as well. 

“What did you just say?” 

“He’s bringing her back to life. He’s giving her magic back.” 

Kristoff looked at his wife sadly. “Anna, surely you’re delirious. He only wants to finish the job--” 

“Trust me.” 

“What, you have faith in him now?”

“I can tell that he has changed. I can feel it in my guts.” 

“...What?”

“Why is he gesturing us to move aside, then?” Groaned Ryder, watching his moves. 

“He needs space to do it, just like when he… Just like when he ripped it off her. We have to stand back.” 

Honeymaren’s chestnut eyes turned to fire. “I am not leaving her side.” 

“Maren, I swear that it’s the most difficult thing to do for me as well right now. But I’m begging you. I’m begging you all.” She said on a higher voice, addressing to her family. “Let’s get out of the way. Elsa will be fine. I know she will. I promise.” 

They all seemed suspicious, but slowly changed their minds. Her daughter lifted her small face to her, still covered with tears. 

“P… Pinky promise?” 

Anna looked down at Eydis, and smiled as widely as she could while she held her chin up. “Pinky promise.” 

It took a while, but they finally all stepped away from Elsa’s unconscious body. Victor respected the time it took them to take the distance he indicated, and they moved reluctantly because it was even larger than they thought. He stayed silent until they were all in good positions and he was certain that they wouldn’t get hurt. 

“That will be enough.” 

They turned to him. 

“You don’t need to go further. You’re out of the radius now, it’s fine.” 

Honeymaren blinked in astonishment. He truly cared? She could see it in his features, she could hear it in his voice. He wasn’t tricking them. He genuinely cared about their health. She was stunned by the change in his behavior. Did he come to his senses? 

“Cover your eyes.” He advised. 

They all obeyed, except for Honeymaren, who was staring right at him. He opened his mouth to repeat, but she struck her sentence faster. 

“I am not leaving my eyes out of you.” 

He had a sigh and a sad smile. “Alright.” 

She kept staring at him while he did the same moves with his arms than what he did earlier, only this time on reverse. He focused deeply on what he was doing, joining his hands just in front of his navel. Briskly, he parted them and even jolted his arms open, both outstretched on each side, forming a cross with his body. A bright light parted from him and went in a straight line right to Elsa’s body. It was dazzling and blinding, but Honeymaren didn’t care. She willingly accepted to lose her sight to make sure that Victor was bringing Elsa’s magic back to her. 

Somehow, the light of the transfer this time seemed even brighter than before. Eydis moaned in pain at the light and winced as she stepped back. Ryder placed a hand above her face to protect her as he was also looking away to avoid burning his eyes. 

The process was longer than when he ripped Elsa’s magic in the first place, and Anna interpreted from it that it was always more difficult to return what was stolen. Just like it was harder to fix a vase after breaking it than when one bumped it off the table. 

It took a long time, and the redhead eventually closed her eyes in impatience, clenching them shut. When suddenly, the light stopped. She blinked as she looked around them. The shore had been plunged in the dark of night again, the Moon calmly shedding light on them. 

As she tried to understand where everyone was standing because her eyes had trouble switching from the high brightness to the dark of night, she heard a loud gasp from the ground. 

Elsa gasped like she had been underwater for years and finally had reached the surface. She then breathed in pants as her heart picked up to its normal place and her blood rushed in her veins through her whole body. Her organs felt like they were on fire, and her limbs were both dizzy and buzzing with a sensation of pins and needles. Spasming, her palms slammed the pebbles and her fingers clenched on them. She continued to gasp and sat up in utter confusion of what had just happened. 

“ELSA!!” 

The familiar voice echoed in the night, and she blinked as she tried to find where her wife was possibly standing. Suddenly, fast noises of a run on the pebbles came closer and closer to her. She barely had the time to turn to where it was from when something very hard and very wet tackled her body and slid along her cheek. She recognized who it was by the way she cried, and the natural scent of her skin and hair combined with the familiar smell of the leather of her outfit.   

Elsa’s brain didn’t fully grasp why she was holding her so warmly, but she instinctively wrap her arms around her as she caught her breath. Honeymaren abruptly pulled back to hold Elsa’s face and look at her with a tearful grin. She lovingly sighed, then slammed her lips on hers. The Snow Queen widened her eyes at the deep and powerful kiss. It was full of emotion, and intense in every way. However, Elsa couldn’t enjoy it much. She already had troubles breathing, so a kiss wasn’t really the smartest move. Unwillingly, she pushed away Honeymaren’s shoulders to detach her from her face. After a big gasp, she gave her a regretful wince, then coughed as she tried to retrieve oxygen. 

“Sorry… Just... “ She gestured to her mouth, struggling to make words. “Need air...” 

Honeymaren had a wet chuckle and sniffed as she nodded. “Yeah. I understand. I’m the one who’s sorry for jumping on you like that. Take your time.” 

Elsa breathed as much as she could, when suddenly something else ripped out some of the air she had managed to put in her lungs; the brisk and powerful hug that held her from behind, with arms tightly crossing her chest, was unmistakable. 

“Anna?” She said in a croak voice, blinking. 

What happened? Was she okay? Victor had aimed at her, she got hurt, she fell, but it actually didn’t to anything? Were they this glad because it didn’t work? 

The redhead sobbed of happiness next to her ear. Elsa’s eyes widened at the familiar sound. Last time she had heard that kind of sobbing...

Hold on a minute, how long was she unconscious? 

“Hey, hey… I’m okay…” She muttered, assembling all her forces to reassure her little sister, and she stroked her hair as she felt her face on her shoulder. 

As a response, Anna clenched harder in her embrace, but thankfully her arms had gone higher, so Elsa was able to breathe normally. 

She stared in silence as Kristoff and Eydis ran to her and gave her blessed and incredibly relieved smiles, and Ryder fell to his knees next to her niece to sob loudly in happiness. 

What the heck had happened? How much time had passed? 

She looked around, a bit blocked by Honeymaren in her lap and Anna holding her still with her strong hug, to check the Moon and the tide and try to understand how long she had been taken away from them. 

When Elsa scanned the shore, her eyes landed on a man figure, and they widened when she saw that it was Victor. However, her expression changed when she saw his posture, and that’s why she didn’t recognize him immediately. He had one knee down and the other up, and he was struggling to stand up. That posture was familiar: Elsa was in the same state when she used a lot of her magic in one go and started to feel drowsy from it. What did Victor just do? Why was no one keeping an eye on him? 

“Guys… Look out…” Warned Elsa, nudging the people around her so they could turn towards the enemy. 

Anna crouched next to her and she could finally see her face. Her young sister looked at Victor, but to Elsa’s biggest surprise, she was neither frowning or worried; she was smiling? In… Gratitude? 

Surely she was delirious. The Snow Queen turned to her wife, and was stunned to see the same expression on Honeymaren’s face. 

The redhead turned and gave a squeeze to her shoulder. 

“How are you feeling?” 

Elsa blinked. “Uh… Good. Great.” 

Honeymaren smiled. “Can you feel your powers?” 

She frowned, clueless of what those questions were leading to. She looked down at her hands, folding then unfolding her fingers. She felt magic coursing through her veins, like usual. She pushed magic through her fingertips, and made some snowflakes fly around. 

“Yeah, I think so-- Wait a minute.” 

Her eyes widened, and Honeymaren grinned. 

Anna’s hand passed along her back. “He saved your life. He gave your magic back.” 

Quiet in disbelief, she joined them as they all looked over to where Victor was now standing, limping a bit because of his injured ankle. He didn’t dare to look at them, but finally did after a few seconds, noticing that all eyes were on him. His gaze met Elsa’s, and their eyes locked for a moment. She inspected him, dubious. Victor looked sorry, and sincere. The blonde blabbered in astonishment. 

“You… You did? You retrieved the magic, despite everything?”

“You were right.” He smiled sadly. “Killing you would have made me become the very thing I hate. And it wouldn’t have made me better than him. Revenge would never have. It doesn’t heal. Healing comes with love. So I reversed the transfert. You deserve it better than me.”

He stayed there, defeated and still, ready to receive his sentence. 

Anna slowly stood up, and smiled at him. 

“Thank you.” 

[paodequeijofeliz-blog]

Let me tell you a good story

Bloodbound Fanfiction (characters and main story belongs to Pixelberry Studios).

Pairing: Kamilah Sayeed and MC (Annie)

Information:  this takes place after Bloodbound 3, here I’m recreating how Kamilah and MC would meet if she had never gone to Raines Corporation right away.

Summary: Thirty years after meeting Annie for the first time, Kamilah is now a wife and a mother. During a regular family dinner, she decides to tell her daughter and their new son-in-law the story of how she fell in love with Annie after an unusual meeting through the hallways of NYU.

Warnings: there is just a little bit of smut talking in the end. A little. Barely. 

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

Let me tell you a good story - Part 7 (Finale)

March 2nd, 2048

“Okay, okay. Shoo everyone. So. Where was I?” Anna scratched her eyes again. “Right, at the gala. After breakfast, Kamilah asked me to stay at the Penthouse, cause’ it would be easier to just get dressed there… Which lead to a day of not working so much, no details needed, of course. Until we finally showered and got ready to go.”

“Me in forty minutes. She…” Kamilah poked her wife’s head. “Took three hours.”

 “Yeah, she still does that” Lysia sighed in confirmation, remembering how her mother took ages to get ready for the daughter’s graduation. “That’s why you’re getting dressed way before me, when the wedding comes.”

“I wanted to look pretty, ok? It’s not every day that a smoking hot rich brilliant woman ask you to be her date.” Anna defended herself, fighting a yawn. “The part you want to hear happened after we were already there…”

 --------------------------------------------------------------------

September 16th, 2018

The gala was being held at one of those rich, huge, and fancy hotels, worldwide known, that Anna never really memorized the name.

“Baccarat Hotel, darling. In Manhattan.” Kamilah added, but her piece of information was dismissed by a “Whatever Rich Hotel, doesn’t make a difference” response from her wife.

The event was set to start at 8 pm, so it was already dark outside. The city lights and camera flashes glowed on Annie’s dress when she stepped out of the limousine. That outfit was carefully selected to match Kamilah’s. A dark shade of blue with tiny crystals, like the night sky, making the historian’s smooth skin look like a dangerous temptation. The back was barely covered, and even though it seemed to hug her tight on the breasts, it got looser as it approached the hem, floating and following the woman’s movement. It was beautiful, indeed, but nothing compared to her date.

Kamilah was so absolutely gorgeous, Anna couldn’t help staring at her through the entire ride there, and almost lost her breath when she saw that wonderful goddess looking over the shoulders and smiling invitingly. It was the most beautiful vision in the world.

“Darling, what a coincidence, I was thinking the same thing when I saw you that night” the Egyptian laughed, a hint of red flashing through her eyes, “And you’re still the most beautiful vision in the world, with or without a Versace’s dress on you.”

“I do remember you saying ‘without’ was even better in the end of the night…” Anna looked up to meet Kamilah’s gaze, almost loosing track of the story. “So…”

Kamilah’s gown was a silver provocative mermaid cut with a deep neckline and a set of elegant sapphire jewels. They were the night and the stars, and what the Egyptian didn’t know by them, is that one day, years ahead, Annie would hold her hands on the altar an make vowels to ‘always support you, as the night sky supports the moon and the stars, for you are and always will be my entire galaxy’.

Back then, the only thing they were both aware was the intense feeling pulling them together through the event. For the first couple hours, their sole attention was focused on each other. Both danced, drank and laughed like they were the only two people standing on that ballroom. And even though they didn’t kiss, trying hard to maintain the professional boundaries intact (at least in front of the rest of the employees), it was evident to everyone that something was going on. After the sixth waltz, Kamilah felt this urge to just lean in and kiss the woman she had on her arms, sinking in desire, but Adrian interrupted them right on time.

“Excuse me.” He touched Anna on her elbow, capturing the historian’s attention. “Maybe it’s time for you two to blend in. Why don’t we greet the volunteers who are going to be working in the basement with you next month, Ms. Mali? Kamilah needs to have a moment with the senator as well.”

“Of course, Mr. Raines.”

With a last sparkling smile, Annie left her date and followed Adrian’s lead to a group of people by the bar. They weren’t really interesting to talk to and the conversation flew in circles, getting so dull that soon enough she saw herself drinking more champagne than the recommended. At some point, the main topic became Ms. Sayeed. One of them, Mr. Paul Lynn, was excited to work for her.

“Hold your horses, pal. She can be such a pain in the ass.” Annie finally said something, an empty glass on her hands.

“Really? People said she’s a little bit tough, maybe demanding, but a nice person in general.” Paul landed his eyes beyond Annie’s shoulder, quickly composing himself, but the historian didn’t notice this subtle change of posture.

“Good evening. Am I interrupting?” Kamilah’s voice showed up right beside Anna, her gorgeous features monopolizing every single eye on that group.

“Not at all. We were just chatting about work, how’s the project, the documents, the boss…” Annie also didn’t see how Paul and the others got tense over her words, since she could only stare at the one in silver beside her. “They want to meet Ms. Sayeed soon… But as I was saying, don’t get your hopes up, Paul. Besides being annoying, she’s never around. Never. Definitely not checking on us down in the basement.”

“Uhm… Well, I’m sure Ms. Sayeed probably has too many things to do… Right?” said the tall blond woman named Leah, a new archivist there. Her eyes flickered between Anna and Kamilah, unsure what to think of it.

“I seriously doubt it.”

“Why do you think that?” the Egyptian crossed her arms, dropping an amused glare over Anna. That was getting interesting.

“Well, come on, if this is so important to her, why haven’t I met the woman yet? She doesn’t even sign my paycheck, Mr. Raines does it. I bet she’s somewhere fancy right now, having a hot bath and laughing at the poor souls that have to deal with her freakin’ thousand emails every day.” Anna sighed tiredly, too much champagne in her system. “As I said before, a real pain in the ass. When you think you made progress, there comes Ms. Sayeed with a new order. I swear, there are days my phone buzzes so much, seems like it’s trying to jump from my pocket and commit suicide. That’s her thing, you know? Boss around. Not even a polite ‘thank you for working overtime today’. So yeah, the project is great, Mr. Raines and Kamilah here are both amazing, but throw away any ideas of bonding with Ms. Sayeed.”

“Ms. Sayeed, they’re ready for your speech.” They were interrupted by an elegant man in tuxedo who offered his hand to walk the Egyptian to the stage.

At first, Annie frowned in confusion.

Then, her eyes met Kamilah’s and all the pieces finally connected correctly. The company, the situation, when and how they met, what she said that night, why Ms. Sayeed was never introduced to her…

“Holy shit, I’m fucking the real boss.”

“You’re WHAT?” Paul dropped his chin.

  --------------------------------------------------------------------

“OH. NO.” Drake also dropped his chin, just like Paul did so many years ago. “OH NO, OH NO, OH NO”

“I was mad at her!” Annie tried to defend herself, cheeks getting redder by the second. “All I knew was that Ms. Sayeed would only text me orders. Never said ‘hi’, or something nice. Because the one who was saying something nice, in my understanding, was a different person!”

Kamilah couldn’t comment on it, since she was bursting into laughs. No story could make her laugh so much like that one. Slowly, she started to steady her breath, a hand placed over her own chest. By the window, Adrian was also cleaning the tears out of his eyes.

“Come on, mommy…” Lysia smiled kindly at the blushed woman on the floor. “Don’t mind them. We all love you the way you are. Continue the story.”

  --------------------------------------------------------------------

Anna had never wanted to burry herself on the ground that much in her entire life. She didn’t even hear the speech, the chock written all over the Brazilian’s face. Kamilah looked gorgeous under the spotlight, confident, professional. Surely was saying some pretty intelligent stuff too. Annie just couldn’t understand it, since she was momentarily deaf. Petrified. Half a glass of champagne still lingering between her fingers. At some point, the speech was over, but the historian only realized it when Adrian touched her back and whispered a request. She heard it, but apparently forgot every single word in English.

“Quê?”

“Dance with me, will you?” He asked again while gently leading her away from the group. Anna only realized what was happening by the time his hand held her waist and helped her to move around at the sound of a slow song. “Hey. Are you ok? Can you hear me?”

She nodded, not risking saying anything.

“Don’t beat yourself so much, Kamilah could’ve told you the truth long ago, but she was having too much fun with this little secret.”

“Huh.” That’s all her voice was able to project.

Adrian muffled a short laugh, bringing her closer and waltzing away from the others. In a couple minutes, they had escaped those curious eyes, approaching the corner of the ballroom, where he slowly diminished the steps to end the dance. “Now, I believe here you’re safe.”

Annie’s gaze wondered around, still lost in her thoughts. She only noticed Adrian had left when Kamilah’s voice echoed sensually by her ear, making the historian shiver and tense like a statue. Her eyes lifted to find brown ones intensely glaring at her.

“Good evening, Ms. Mali. My name is Kamilah Sayeed, and I’m the CEO of Ahmanet Financial. It’s a pleasure to finally meet the woman who’s leading my most important project. It has come to my attention that you have a few issues towards me and my… Bossy manners. However, it could only be a mistake since last night you seemed really comfortable following my orders in the bedroom.”

Anna bit her lower lip, still quiet.

“Oh, no words? Not a single complaint? What a pity, I was so longing to meet the dazzling historian who managed to criticize my thesis with no mercy.” Kamilah’s fingernails went down Annie’s back smoothly, not leaving marks behind. “Why don’t you come with me to the suite upstairs so we can discuss how many ways am I able to be a real pain in your ass?”

Without even waiting to hear a response, she slapped the historian’s butt before heading to the service elevator with a shining room card sticking out of her neckline.

Anna followed. Hypnotized. No questions asked.

Never again she complained about being bossed around by Ms. Sayeed.

  --------------------------------------------------------------------

“Aw, there’s a happy ending.” Drake’s arms were involving his fiancée’s waist, tightening. “So, maybe you were right, baby… They do have a much better love story.”

“Oh, but we’re not done, there is way more. A couple days after that, something terrible happened with Lily, so much changed, and I…” Annie scratcher her eyes for the third time.

That was it. Kamilah leaned down to take the woman in her arms. “It’s time to go to sleep, my love. We’ll tell them the rest on our next dinner, I promise.”

Anna didn’t even have the strength to resist. She was terribly tired, and her wife’s embrace was too damn comfortable. “Fiiiiiiine… Tomorrow night…”.

Adrian smiled fondly at them. With a silently nod and a good night kiss on Lysia’s forehead, he left to his own apartment. Drake and Lysia went to the guest room after cleaning up the table, while Kamilah slowly got up and took Annie into bed.

The historian mumbled something incomprehensible when was lay there.

“What, darling?” the vampire leaned down to hear it better, spooning Anna by instinct.

“I love you, Mrs. Sayeed.”

Kamilah smiled, turning her face to place a kiss on the girl’s temple.

“I love you too, Mrs. Sayeed.”

[dreamcatcherfication]

The Queens of London Part 5 - I Can’t Breathe and I Can’t Smile

This chapter is... disappointing. I really wanted to get it out today, but I couldn’t find the will to write it. I hope it’s still good and you all still enjoy it, but there’s a lot less effort behind it than previous ones. Don’t worry! The plot hasn’t changed and everything’s already planned out, but this chapter was just harder to write than the rest. Anyway, I hope you enjoy! Sorry for any spelling/grammatical errors, it’s raining and I’m the itsy bitsy spider.

Writing Masterpost

If you want to send a request or a prompt, my inbox is always open! I publish a story at 8:00 AM PST everyday, so I’m always in need of new ideas (now featuring random asks). If you want to be tagged in my works, just let me know and I’ll be sure to tag you!

Prompts | More Prompts | The Trifecta of Prompts | Original Prompts

Trigger Warnings: Allusions to sexual abuse, unwanted sexual advances, almost having an anxiety attack

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

It was the night of the party and Kat would be lying if she said she was prepared. All the other queens and ladies were cool and collected, but she could feel all her internal anxieties coming to the surface. Kat didn’t know what she was doing, she had never been to an actual party (unless you counted failed high school Halloween bashes). This was a huge leap Kat was taking with tons of risks, and it was finally setting in how hopelessly unprepared she was.

Standing in front of her mirror, the mix of guilt Kat was feeling about her suit didn’t help to quell her anxiety. It fit perfectly and was absolutely stunning on her, but it was also the most expensive thing she had ever worn. Kat felt dirty with the suit on. It was meant for Katherine Brandon, not Katherine Howard. But she was about to go through with this insane plot to infiltrate Henry’s party and there was no backing out.

There was a knock at her door. “Coming!” Kat called, flexing her fingers. On the other side of the door was Anne, the only person who actually knew where Kat lived. She had agreed to pick her up and take her to Henry’s party so no one would suspect anything from Kat.

Anne had a small bag slung across her chest, her dress just as dazzling as Kat remembered. The bar owner was on her phone, casually texting someone. She glanced up when Kat opened the door and grinned. “Talking with Maggie about tonight,” she explained when Kat’s eyes landed on the phone. “She and the other ladies are going to be in contact with Cathy the whole time, in case something goes wrong.”

“You mean in case I fail,” Kat mumbled, her breathing picking up slightly.

Putting away her phone, Anne wrapped an arm around Kat. “No Kat, don’t think like that. You’re perfectly capable of doing your job. You’re small and basically invisible, you’ll get it done. I have faith in you.”

Kat couldn’t help but feel like that faith was misplaced, but she gave Anne a forced smile and kept her mouth shut. Anne led Kat to her fancy car, some brand Kat couldn’t even identify, and slid into the driver’s seat. “When we get there, everyone’s going to meet before we split up. You get in and out as quickly as you can, okay?”

“Okay,” Kat nodded, staring straight ahead.

“Kat,” Anne leaned towards her cousin, making Kat look her in the eyes. “Promise me that you’ll stay safe. Promise.”

Shivering at Anne’s low tone, Kat set her face. “I promise.”

Satisfied with Kat’s answer, Anne put the car into drive. The two cousins were silent during the entire ride, both of them too nervous to speak. There was a lot weighing on tonight and they were acutely aware of that.

Henry’s house wasn’t just some house, it was a mansion, Kat noted. One of the biggest ones she had seen. It reminded her of a castle, if she was being honest, with its high walls and intimidating gates. Her task of finding his office seemed ten times more daunting even before stepping inside the palace. “Boleyn! Kat!” A voice called out from behind them when they stepped out of the car.

Anna was leaning against the gate, her hands in her suit pockets. The suit was red with black highlights down the side. She had high heels that made her seem like a giant and a thin top beneath her blazer. Kat wasn’t sure if Anna was competing to see who would get more attention between her and Anne, but that’s what it seemed like with the extreme effort she clearly put into both of the outfits. “Anna,” Kat’s cousin acknowledged, “Where are the others?”

“Right here,” Jane answered, walking up with Cathy at her side. Just like Anna, Cathy was breathtaking in her suit. The blue complimented her skin like no other color, and it made her curly hair stand out even more. Kat simply couldn’t understand how Anna and Bessie had been able to come up with these outfits.

From the other side of the street, Aragon walked over to the group, her dress sashaying behind her. “Now that we’re all here,” Aragon started, “we can go over last minute details.”

“Yes,” Cathy reached her hand into the center of the queens and opened it, revealing a small earpiece. “Maria got me an earpiece so I could talk with the ladies. There’s only one, so come to me if you need help. If something goes wrong, don’t hesitate to call for help, you are not at this alone,” she spoke the last part while looking directly at Kat. The others pretended like they didn’t notice, but it was clear they had.

Furrowing her eyebrows with determination, Kat stepped forward. “Do we have any idea where his office is? His palace is gigantic, I won’t be able to find it without direction.”

Jane answered her. “It’s in the west wing. Second floor, third room. It has a golden handle.” At the strange faces of the others, she explained, “He and I have a good relationship, remember? I’ve been to his home more than once.”

Accepting the explanation, Aragon broke from the group. “Jane, Anna, and I will go in together. You three,” she addressed Anne, Kat, and Cathy, “will wait before coming in at different times.”

“You got it. Now shoo, be Aragone,” Anne smirked. Jane laughed at the pun while Aragon shot Anne a threatening glare. With that, the three women entered the gates, disappearing to the party.

Glancing at Kat out of the corner of her eye, Anne tried to be discreet with watching her cousin. It wasn’t working, and Kat knew what she was doing, but neither of them said anything. “Kat,” Cathy ran a hand through her hair, “I want you to come to me immediately if something happens.”

“Why?” It wasn’t that Cathy was cold towards her, she just wasn’t the most open of the other queens. Kat didn’t really expect Cathy to offer herself as a person to seek out.

“I have the earpiece to the other ladies, and we both have similar jobs. You’re putting yourself in a lot of danger, and I’m thankful that you’re willing to do that. But if you need to get away quickly, I’m your best bet,” Cathy stated. “And I’ll help you, no questions asked.”

Suddenly feeling the effects of her nerves returning, Kat awkwardly swallowed. “Yeah, will do. Um, let’s go inside now.”

Kat had no idea how she had managed to escape from the prying eyes of models and politicians all situated in the main hall. The palace was even bigger on the inside than Kat imagined, and she was having trouble navigating around. There were so many different sets of stairs that she wasn’t sure if she was on the second floor or the eighth. Regardless, Kat walked along the quiet hall, counting doors.

For an overcrowded party, no one seemed to be wandering around the palace but her. Everyone was in the same room, and the hall Kat traversed was completely deserted. Stopping in front of the third door, Kat stared at the golden handles. This was it. This had to be it, right? Reaching her hand out, Kat turned the knob and closed her eyes,

“Excuse me darling, what are you doing all the way out here?” Jumping back, Kat scrambled away from the door. She put on a fake beam and turned to face the man who called out to her. He was tall and had a scruffy beard, his body so big he seemed to take up the entire hallway. This was Henry Tudor, Kat was sure of it. She had seen a few photos of him before, but they were all far more flattering than this version of him.

“Uh, I uh, I was looking for the bathroom,” Kat giggled, pretending to be tipsy. “I kept walking and I thought this was it!”

Noticing Kat’s vulnerable state, Henry started taking steps closer. “Well dear,” he lowered his voice, “I could show you the bathroom if you like.”

Fear trickled down Kat’s spine like a spider crawling over her skin. “N-no thank you! I should be back to the party.” 

Henry blocked her way, his teeth flashing dangerously. “But you should use the bathroom if you need it,” he pushed, trapping Kat.

“It was all in my head,” Kat pretended to laugh as if she was drunk, praying it would convince Henry. “I just want to go back to the party now.”

“Well let me escort you,” Henry put his arm on Kat’s shoulder.

She froze, remembering the times Francis had done the same to her. The times that the men before him had - “Henry, what are you doing?” A familiar voice asked. Jane was standing behind Henry, her arms crossed and an unimpressed eyebrow raised. “This poor girl’s trying to get back to the party, let her go.”

Glaring at Jane, Henry released his hold on Kat, allowing her to scamper off. As Kat passed Jane, the woman offered her a short wink that Henry wouldn’t notice. As she left the hallway, Aragon passed Kat. One look at the girl and Aragon was marching down the hall to help Jane. She called behind her “Go find Cathy, get ready to leave. If Henry saw you and Jane together, he’s going to put the pieces together. Now go.”

Moving faster, Kat reentered the main hall. Swiveling her head back and forth, she pushed through throngs of people in search of Cathy. It was happening so quickly, she realized. Henry finding her before she even had the chance to investigate. Jane finding her and Aragon sending her to Cathy. It felt like they had only just gotten here and Kat had already ruined it. 

With so many people around her, Kat started to shrink into herself. Too many people, too many people, why were they all in the same room? She couldn’t see Anne, she couldn’t see Cathy, Jane and Aragon were with Henry, Anna was probably off having a great time. Kat almost ran directly into a wall as she emerged from the mosh pit of people. Steadying herself, Kat breathed in heavily, her chest tightening like a rope was tied around it. 

“Kat?” Cathy noticed her from beside a table filled with champagne. The writer had a notebook in her hand, but she slid it into her jacket as she approached Kat. “Hey, Kat, breath with me,” she whispered, grabbing the girl’s hands. Kat did as she was told, breathing in unison with Cathy’s controlled breaths. Once Kat’s breathing was stable, Cathy put a finger to her earpiece. “Yes, Kat’s here. Something must’ve gone wrong.”

“I’m sorry,” Kat whispered, “I’m so so sorry, this is all my fault.”

“Hey,” Cathy assured her, “This whole thing was a huge risk, and it’s not your fault something went wrong. We’ll have other opportunities. For now, we need to leave before Henry starts to figure things out. He’s smarter than he looks Kat,” she commented, pushing Kat around the wall of people. 

They emerged at the front door, quickly leaving the confused waiters behind as they tried to offer bottles of alcohol. “Where are the others?” Kat asked Cathy.

“Anne’s in the thick of it, there’s no way of getting to her until she decides to leave,” Cathy explained. “I’ll shoot her a text and she’ll join us afterwards. Cleves was on standby to be our driver, and she should be waiting for us if the ladies managed to contact her. The ladies are at the theatre, so we’ll join them.”

True to Cathy’s words, Anna was waiting in her car. “I can’t believe you made me leave so early when everyone’s eyes were on me,” Anna complained without any real frustration. “Get in, we should leave now,” she spoke seriously. “The ladies said they’d get Aragon, Jane, and Anne to the theatre as quickly as possible, but their covers aren’t blown yet.” Cathy got in the passenger seat while Kat climbed into the back.

Covering her face with her hands, Kat did her best to quiet her breathing. She had messed this up for them. They had been planning this for so long and she had messed it up right off the bat. She should’ve known better than to try and get involved with them. She was only a burden on them, a hindrance.

She didn’t belong with the queens.

------------------------------------------

Tag List:

@radcowboyalmondtree @boleynhowards @annabanana2401 @babeebobo @dont-lose-your-queerhead @everything-insanity @mindless-pidgeon @i-wanna-dance-and-sing-six @thedemidisaster

[andinewton]

A MisunDateStanding

So, this story has been in my head for weeks!  I finally finished it after starting it and forgetting I had done so!  Big Big Big thanks to @fuwafuwagem​ for reading it for me!

Fandom:  Mr Love: Queen’s Choice

Pairing: Victor/MC

Warnings: None.  Unless you really have a phobia of misunderstandings...

A MisunDateStanding

Dinner.  Tomorrow night.  8pm.

The text was as direct and to the point as the man sending it, Victor’s brusque yet efficient manner coming across easily with the link to the restaurant.  Yet those three sentences were enough to send you into a panic.  You had had four more days to turn in your latest report, two of them being the weekend when you had planned to shut off your phone and concentrate on it fully, but now you had less than forty-eight hours!  What was he thinking?  You were sure he liked giving you extra pressure just to see you fail.  His logic that you should work well under pressure was absolutely ridiculous!  And to make things worse, the restaurant was exceedingly high class, meaning you had to somehow find an outfit that met standards for both the setting and a business meeting.

‘I’ll fix the outfit, you get on with the report.’  Anna promised you, patting your shoulder from where you sat at your desk with your face pressed against the surface.

‘He’s trying to kill me, I swear.’  Your muttered voice came from the surface.  ‘He wants to see me try so hard I have a heart attack.’

‘Less complaining, more typing.’  She pushed your laptop until it bumped gently against your head.  ‘I promise you will look fabulous, just make sure you have something to hand over.  There’s only so far an outfit will take you with the CEO from hell.’

You took a deep breath as you pushed yourself upright, pulling your laptop towards you.  ‘Okay, I can do this.’

‘You can.  I’ll get Minor to bring you a coffee.’  She replied as she went for the door.  ‘Redirect your calls to Kiki and, for the love of God, concentrate!’

‘Anna?’  You looked up as she was about to close the door.

‘Yes?’

‘I think I’m going to need some new shoes as well.’  You smiled apologetically.

‘A whole outfit, got it.’  She nodded pulling the door behind her.

‘Anna?’  You called again.

‘What now?’  She gave you a stern look.

‘Thank you.’

Her face slipped into a smile.  ‘Get to work.’

You nodded to yourself as the door closed.  You wouldn’t let anyone down.

You exited the elevator and approached the maître’d at the restaurant, your new heels clicking on the tiled floor.  The outfit Anna had chosen was beautiful yet simple; a wide v-necked skater dress with short sleeves paired with a short fitted jacket, both black; the heels were lace courts with a three inch heel, not quite tall enough for you to wobble, but enough for you to walk tall and confidently.  She had helped put together your hair and makeup, and had even brought a selection of jewellery to finish off the outfit.  You felt incredibly overdressed for a business meeting but the moment you stepped into the building you didn’t feel out of place at all.

You were shown to Victor’s table overlooking the city from its top floor vantage point, the man himself already seated, looking perfectly turned out as usual in a black three piece suit and striped shirt.  His tie was held in place with a silver clip embedded with a jewel that glinted in the dim lights.  He stood when he saw you, straightening his jacket and waiting for the waiter to hold your chair and put your napkin in your lap before sitting himself.

‘You’re on time.’  He remarked before clearing his throat.  ‘You look…nice.’

‘Oh, thank you.’  You replied, not expecting a compliment.  It brought a blush to your cheeks that you only hoped the rouge Anna had expertly applied covered.  ‘I…uh…like your tie clip.  Is it a diamond?’

Victor looked down at his tie as though he couldn’t remember.  ‘Yes.’

You were both silent for several moments, Victor looking at you expectantly, and you realised he was probably waiting for your report.  Reaching into your laptop bag, the only item out of place with your outfit, you pulled out a folder and rested it on your place setting before rezipping the bag, talking as you did so.

‘I think you’ll find everything you need here.’  You started.  ‘The figures are exact as of ten-thirty this morning, and I think you’ll appreciate the additional…’

‘What is that?’  Victor’s tone was clipped yet not harsh, his eyes uncertain, and you wondered if it was bad business practice to discuss matters before food.

‘Uh…the report.’  You replied in a hushed voice.  ‘It was hard to get it done four days sooner, but I knew I could do it if really tried.’

‘Why would you…’  Victor leant forward in his chair.  ‘Why would you bring your report on a date?’

You blinked three times as what he said sank in, and they weren’t fast blinks.  No.  They were slow and measured, your brain processing what he had said until it finally made sense.  ‘This is a date?’

‘I don’t usually bring anyone but other CEOs or high level associates to this restaurant.  I don’t usually dine with my underlings, but you’re spe…different.’  He stopped himself and you wondered what he had been about to say.  ‘I suppose I should have been more specific with my invitation.’

‘Well, I am a dummy.’  You shrugged.  That was all you could come up with?!  Good job, me!

Victor chuckled, sitting back in his chair with one arm across his chest, his elbow rested against it and his fingers on his chin.  ‘Put that away.  You can have an extra day before you have to turn it in, because you look like you’ve pulled a couple of all-nighters to get it done.  And no more work talk tonight.’

You smiled as you slipped the folder back into your bag.  ‘Yes, sir.’  You couldn’t help it, it just fell out of your both from habit, and Victor’s raised eyebrow made you realise your mistake.  ‘I mean Victor.  I mean, yes, Victor.  Okay.’

‘Good.’  He signalled the waiter who appeared almost instantaneously with a bottle of wine that had been breathing and awaiting this moment.  He poured a small sample into Victor’s glass and he tried it before nodding his approval.  Your glass was filled first, then Victor’s second, the bottle left on the side of the table.  ‘I hope red is okay with you.’

‘Yeah.’  You replied, almost in a daze.

‘Then here’s to our first date,’ he raised his glass towards yours, waiting until you clinked rims to add, ‘and many more.’

[is0gild]

Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Chapter 1

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: 5,353

NEXT CHAPTER || NEWEST CHAPTER

Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented @ky-jane​

“Alright, Elsa, what’s the plan here?”

My reflection in the changing room mirror stared back at me with a pointed look.

“Me?!” My hand flew up to my chest, fingers splayed as I breathed out a strained chuckle.  “You think I know what to do?  You do realize who we’re talking about here, right?”

She frowned at me, eyelids drooping.

“Ugh, I know, I know I need to call them, don’t remind me!” I tossed my hands up and turned my back on the mirror as I began to pace in the tiny box of a room.  I hugged one arm around my abdomen while I brought the other up so I could bite my thumbnail.  “It’s just… It’s a lot to take in! They won’t understand, hell, I don’t even understand! I’m supposed to be the good girl! The one that always follows the rules and does as she’s told, the one that can do no wrong.  They’ll…”

I froze mid step as my eyes fell on the heaping pile of alabaster silk, lace and tulle laying in a rumpled pile on the ugly carpet not a few inches from my feet.  I winced.  “...they’ll be so disappointed. Their perfect girl is gone.”  Sighing, I shook my head and turned back towards my reflection once more, gripping the edges of the mirror.  “I can’t talk to them right now, I just can’t.  I should wait.  Give them time to cool off and... and to process.  Yeah, that’d be better, right? ...right?”

She stared back at me like a deer caught in the headlights.

I scowled.  “Oh, you’re no help.”

“Hoo-hoo!”  A sudden knock at the door made me jump as my heart leapt up into my throat.  “Everything okay, deary? Who are you talking to in there?”

“Er… fine!” I called out. Was that a tremor in my voice? Dammit, girl, learn to keep your cool.  Clearing my throat, I tried again.  “Everything’s fine!  And no one!  Talking to, that is.  I’m talking to no one!”  Wait. No. That sounded crazy.  “Uh… I mean, talking to myself!” I flinched, slumping back against a wall and lightly banging my head against it. Not much better.  “Talking?  What talking?  There’s no talking going on in here!” Cue nervous chuckle.

Smooth.

“Oh? Must be hearing things then. Oh well!” I listened to his retreating footsteps until I couldn’t hear them anymore.

Releasing the small breath I’d been holding, I looked myself over in the mirror once more.  The price tags were still sticking out of the powder blue sundress and ankle boots I was wearing. They’d just been the first things I’d grabbed on entering this store, I’d hardly even looked at them before running straight back to the dressing rooms.  Thankfully, fate or luck or whatever you wanted to call it seemed to have smiled upon me, at least in that second, for they’d turned out to be in my size.  Yanking the tags off, I then squinted at my platinum blonde hair in the reflection, still up in the tight, elegant bun from-

I grimaced, quickly shutting down that train of thought as I started yanking out all the bobby pins. After dropping what felt like a million of those wiry little jerks to the floor, the bun loosened and unwound into a thick braid falling down my spine.  Sweeping it forward over one shoulder and brushing my bangs back, I then gave myself one last hard look.  My skin was even paler than usual, making my faint freckles stand out for once against my face.  I took a second to try and slap some color back into my drained cheeks before stabbing an index finger up against the glass, hissing, “Keep it together, you got this.”

Blue eyes blinked back at me owlishly.

“...I hope,” I muttered, shoulders slumping.  But then with renewed resolve, I straightened up once more, cast one last sour look at the giant, fluffy garment discarded on the ground before turning my back on it and marching out of the changing room door.

“Hoo-hoo!”

I jerked back as the cheerful voice pierced the air, what little courage I’d manage to piece together already fluttering away like a frightened bird.  Heart pounding in my ears, I looked past the racks and racks of secondhand clothing to the source, a burly, rosy cheeked man standing behind the register counter, waggling his fingers at me as he flashed a warm little smile.

“That looks very nice on you, deary, if I do say so myself,” he chirped. “And you’re in luck! It’s part of our big summer blowout, so it’s fifty percent off!”

Ah. Right. Munny. A means of purchasing goods. A thing of which I had very little in that exact moment.

None, in fact.

Not even so much as a credit card.

“Th-thanks,” I stammered, quickly looking away as I twisted my braid and tried to steady my breathing. Think, think, think… how was I going to get out of this?  …I wished Anna were here. She’d know exactly what to do. She was always so much better at this whole… impulsive… thing.  For now, I just needed to buy more time to think.

Act normal.  I could do that at the very least, right?

Conceal, don’t feel.  Don’t let him know.

“I… think I’ll just browse a little more… if you don’t mind,” I managed to get out, going to the nearest rack and idly thumbing through a few of the outfits on hangers.

“Of course, of course, be my guest,” he said, tapping his fingers together happily.  “I must say, you were quite the sight when you came bursting in here! It’s not everyday someone rushes into my shop dressed in a-”

“Costume party!” I blurted out, my fingers spasming and knocking one of the hangers from the rung, the shirt draped on it crumpling to the carpet.  I snatched it up and hastily shoved it back onto the rack.  “I just came from a… a costume party, that’s all.” My hand trembled and I balled it into a fist, hiding it behind my back.

Don’t let him in, don’t let him see.

“Oh! How delightful, a party! Well, you must have been the belle of the ball, deary!”

I hummed out a soft, curt laugh, my lips pressed into a tight smile.  “I just left it back there.  In the dressing room.  You can have it if you, ah, if you like.  I’m not attached to it.”

His lips formed a tiny O, but then the smile was already back. “In that case, I'll knock ten percent off your purchase,” he proudly held up all ten fingers to emphasize what a deal he was offering. “Sound fair?”

“...sure.”

Now how to pay for the other ninety percent?

Forget it. Surprisingly, that was actually the least of my worries at the moment. I had much, much bigger problems to deal with.  Like what on earth I was even going to do once I stepped out those automatic doors and back onto the bustling city streets.  I had nowhere to go.  No one to turn to. No-

I inhaled sharply, my eyes widening and my fingers flying to my temples as my breathing became shallow again.

...where was I even going to sleep tonight?

On the streets? That’s a thing some people actually did, right? But how to even pick the right street, a safe street? It’s not like the homeless left online reviews with a star rating system on which alleys were primo bunking spots.

...oh dear lord, was I homeless now?

“Focus, Elsa, focus! Get it together,” I whispered harshly at myself.  Out of the corner of my eyes, I noticed my new friend behind the cash register giving me a funny look.

Reminder to self: act normal.  Normal… you remember how to do that, right?

Okay, breathe in.  Breathe out.  Let’s figure this out, calmly and rationally.  Let’s start with what city we’re in.  Oh gosh, what was it called again?  I’d only said and heard it a million times in the last few months leading up to this day, but now my mind was drawing a total blank.  Started with a T… Twi… something.  Twixt… Twisted… Twirling…

Twilight! That was it!  Twilight Town.

Wait… Twilight Town?  There was something about that name… something from a long time ag-

Ah!  Wasn’t Twilight Town where she had been from?

...oh wow, it’d been years since I’d even thought of her.  Goodness, did she even still live here?

I glanced towards the salesman again. He beamed and wriggled his fingers at me in another tiny wave, “Hoo-hoo!”

I blanched, eyes snapping back down to the hanging clothes before me, heart hammering in my chest.

Dammit, girl, grow a backbone already.

Gulping down my anxiety, I looked to him again, plastering what I hoped could pass for a friendly, if somewhat shaky grin to my face and approaching the register.  “Would you, um, would you possibly have a… a White Pages back there, maybe?”

“Of course, deary,” he ducked down behind the counter before coming back up, plopping down the massive book in question before me. “Take all the time you need, I’ll be right over there.” He pointed to a large box in one corner of the store packed high with clothes, probably in need of sorting and price tags.  “Just give a shout when you’re ready to ring up.”

“Thanks,” I murmured, watching him walk off before pulling the phone book closer to me and cracking it open somewhere in the middle.

Let’s see… last name… it’d been Hewley, right?  I began rapidly flipping through the pages until I found the one I was looking for, lightly running my index finger down the column as my eyes scanned.

Hewley, R… Hewley, R… ah-ha, there!  Oh fudge, none of the first names had been fully printed, just that damn first initial of R.  My lips pursed to one side as I squinted down at the page.  Oh well, it wasn’t that big of a list.  “Excuse me?” I called back to the man and he looked up, a dark turquoise dress folded over one arm and a pair of boots in hand.  “Would I be able to use your phone? Er… please?”

“Ah,” he tsked sadly. “Sorry, deary, it’s busted!”

“Oh. A-alright.” I frowned back down at the list of names.  Now what? Not like I could use a pay phone. Still had that whole munny problem, as in not having any.  Did pay phones even still exist? Ugh, so not the thing to be focusing on right now! Maybe... I could ask someone on the street if I could borrow their phone?

My nose scrunched up and I shook my head. No.  Hell no. Talk to a stranger? Me? Please. Even talking to this guy here was a major feat for me and he was paid to put up with me.

Sighing, I read over the list again, then blinked.  Huh… addresses were included…

I looked to the employee on the opposite end of the store, who was currently faced away from me.  Then my gaze flicked back down to the White Pages.  Then at the doors leading outside.  Back to him.  To the book.  To the doors.  To the book.  My eyes widened and my pulse spiked once more.

… I’m not seriously thinking what I think I’m thinking, am I?

“Hey!” he gasped.  “What are you-?!”

Apparently I was.

For I’d already snatched the phone book up, clutching its open pages to my chest and pounding my soon-to-be officially shoplifted boots against the carpet as I bolted for the sliding glass doors.  I yelled over my shoulder, “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I… I’ll bring it back! All of it, the book, the clothes, everything, I promise! I just, I need to borrow them, just... just for a bit!”

“Get back here!” He charged after me, somehow suddenly looking ten times bigger and ten times more intimidating.

I squeaked, eyes forward once more as I forced every last ounce of speed out of my legs that they could muster.  The doors glided open just enough for me to squeeze through in time and I stumbled outside, staggering into a sharp turn before booking it.  Luckily, the sidewalks were crowded and I’d had just enough of a head start.  It wasn’t long before I managed to lose him, ducking behind the corner of one building. I pressed my back against the wall, panting heavily.

So, so sorry, you oddly super nice yet super terrifying man! But I was really going to return it all, I swear!

I just needed to find her first!  Which shouldn’t take long, right?

After all, it wasn’t like I was going to have to check every name on the list, right?

Answer: yes. I’d had to check all of them.

Every.

Single.

Last.

One.

On the whole goddamn frigging list. And every single last one? Hadn’t been her. I didn’t even want to think about the sheer number of intercoms I’d buzzed or doors I’d knocked on, each one more nerve-racking than the last as I waited, chest tightening and hands clammy, to hear or see who’d answer.  And each one a disappointment. I shuddered as I recalled the last one, still disturbingly fresh in my mind. He’d looked me up and down, given me a smile that’d made my skin crawl and told me while he didn’t know anyone by that name, he’d gladly give me a place to sleep tonight and I could call him anything I liked.

And here I’d thought I’d sprinted with everything I had when I’d swiped this phone book, but my legs had proved me wrong in that second when I immediately turned and gave Speedy Gonzales a run for his munny to get away from that creep.  Bleh!

Sighing, I glanced back down at the book, cradled close in my arms and still open to the same page.  There was only one name left at the bottom of the list.  This was it.  My last chance.

Looking up again, I hesitantly crept down the hallway inside the apartment building, my eyes shifting from one door to the next, searching for the unit number that matched the address in the phone book.  I passed a window, outside of which it was dark save for a few stars sparkling here and there.  Night had already fallen.  I’d been at this all afternoon.  My legs were tired, my feet sore, and I was just about ready to collapse.

“Three seventeen… three eighteen… ah!  Here it is, three nineteen!” I stopped in front of the door, taking a deep breath before slowly releasing it.  Then balancing the White Pages in one hand, I curled the other into a fist, raised it towards the door and-

-stopped just short of it.

For it’d just suddenly struck me... 

...what… was I going to do… if this wasn’t her either?  My hand, still hovering just an inch from the door, began to quake.  This… really was it. I had no other options. I couldn’t go back. There was no way, just no way. Not even Anna could help me, otherwise I might just drag her down with me. My vision began to blur as I felt a wetness at the corner of my eyes.  If… if I-

No. Stop it. Suck it up, hold it back.  Just… hold it back.

I angrily swiped at my eyes, blinking several times until they cleared once more.  Then squaring my shoulders and lifting my chin, I rapped my knuckles firmly against the door. And I waited.

Everything would work out.  It’d all be fine.  This would be her.  This had to be her.

I heard a click on the other side of the door and my breath hitched.  Slowly it creaked open and there, standing in a faded black tank top and sweatpants, was…

...a man.

An admittedly quite pretty man, with his bright blue-green eyes and ashen hair down to his mid back currently pulled back into a loose ponytail.

But still... a man.

He cocked an eyebrow at me.  “Can I help you?”

It wasn’t her. Because she was a she, and this before me was very much a he.  And she wasn’t a he.

...not unless she’d made a very big, very life altering decision…

But no, he looked nothing like her, not even the same eye color. This couldn’t be her.

“Uh… hello?” he squinted at me, waving a hand in front of my face and I jerked back, blinking a couple times.  “Anyone in there?”

Oh. Right. Talking. That was a thing I should be doing.

I cuddled the book closer to my chest, shifting my weight from one foot to the other.  “Um, h-hi.  Is… Living here, is there a…” I stopped, my mouth going dry.

What was the point of even asking? I already knew the answer he’d give me. It’d be the same answer all the other names on the list had given me.  She wasn’t here.  She wasn’t anywhere.  It’d been a long shot, I don’t even know why I’d gotten my hopes up.  She’d probably moved out of town years ago.

I… was all alone with no place to stay.

I felt my eyes start to brim over and my bottom lip quiver.

He blanched.  “Oh shit, are you okay?” he asked, an awkward hand stretching out towards me, but immediately halting and wavering, clearly at a complete and utter loss for what to do.

I couldn’t hold it back anymore.

The metaphorical dam burst, tears pouring down my cheeks as I sunk down to the ground and buried my face in the pages of the phone book.

I hardly even heard it as he called over his shoulder, voice distraught, “Honey? Could you come out here for a minute? Please?!”

I was going to have to live in a box on the streets. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe it’d be a nice box. A box with a view. A deluxe box. A fancy box, with like a Prada or Rolex logo printed on the side.

“What is it? Why are you-” a new voice joined the conversation, cut off by a gasp and a stuttering of footsteps.  Then there was a loud, distinctive smack, followed by the man emitting a pained grunt.  “What did you do?!”

I was going to have to get a roommate so I wouldn’t be lonely in my Rolex box.  That roommate would be a cockroach, of course, since I’d be living on the streets. Her name would be Carol.

“Whaddya mean, what did I do?!”

“There’s a woman sitting on our welcome mat weeping into a phone book, Riku! I ask again. What. Did. You. Do?!”

Carol would probably hog the shower every morning. Sounds like something Carol would do. Carol always seemed like a selfish hag.

“I didn’t do anything! I just opened the door!”  Another thwack and another yelp.  “What was that one for?!”

“It must have been how you opened the door! You have a very off-putting way of opening doors!”

But then, it was a Rolex box on the street, so it wouldn’t be so much a shower as a grimy, gutter puddle. Wouldn’t make a difference to Carol though.  Ugh, that wretch Carol. Always such a puddle hog.

“How?! How does one be off-putting when opening a goddamn-”

“Shush! What’s she saying?”

“No clue, she’s just been sobbing incoherent gibberish this whole time.”

Crud, had I been saying all that stuff aloud? At least it had been drowned out by all my blubbering, otherwise they would have thought me insane. Well… more insane than they probably already did, what with me being the whackjob wailing uncontrollably on some random strangers’ door step.

“Wait… hold up…” the second voice lowered hesitantly.  “Is that… you? ...Elsa?”

I stiffened, my eyes snapping open and my head jerking up. Next to the guy now was some chick, her long, messy black hair framing her face as she bent forward slightly for a better look at me, her gold eyes wide and searching.

Was it… really her?  Was it…

“...Rayne?” I croaked out, punctuated by a sniffle.

Her hands flew up to her mouth.  “Oh wow, it really is you!” Brow furrowing now, she tentatively reached for me.  “Sweetie, what’s wrong? Why are you-”

“Oh my god, Rayne!” I bawled, on my feet in a flash and throwing myself at her. She caught me, stumbling back a step as I threw my free arm around her to clutch at her shoulders while the other still grasped the now thoroughly soggy book between us.  “It’s you, it really is you! Thank god! I’m so happy! Now I don’t have to live in a box with Carol!”

“Um, I’m… happy for you?” she gingerly patted me on the back, glancing to the guy, who merely shrugged.  “But… what’s wrong? What on earth are you doing here?”

I pulled away, fingers digging into one of her sleeves now as the words started to rush out of me. “I couldn’t go through with it! I just couldn’t! It was all too much! The music, the chandeliers, the people, the, the… him! Especially him! Because that’s all it was going to ever be, was him! Just him! That’s it! The end! It's what he wanted, and it's what they wanted but what about me and what I wanted? Oh sure, I thought it was what I wanted at first, but then I started to think about it, really think about it and I didn't know anymore and I just got scared and it just… I didn’t, I couldn’t... I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t stay! I had to get out of there, to run, to escape! Anna helped and-” My breath caught in my throat and I folded my fingers against my lips, pressing hard, making my knuckles turn white.  “Oh no! All those people! What will they think? What will they say? Wha-” Another pause, this one with a scowl and a shake of my head.  “No. No, no, no, I don’t care! I don’t care what they’re going to say, they can take their hoity-toity opinions and shove it up their hoity-toity a-”

“Elsa!” she snapped, grabbing me by the shoulders.  “Elsa, Elsa, stop! You’re not making any sense! Slow down, breathe! Words generally make more sense when they have spaces between them, you should try it sometime.”

I clasped a hand over my mouth, inhaling and exhaling rapidly through my nose.

Her eyelids drooped and she sighed, reaching out to wipe some of my tears away.  “Just… come inside and sit down so we can talk.”

She took my hand in hers and led me into the apartment, the guy stepping in after and clicking the door shut behind us.  The flat was modest, with a little kitchenette off to my left. The living room had blue carpets and sandy colored walls decorated with island paintings and what looked to be some sort of yellow, star-shaped fruit preserved in resin hanging in a glass case. I numbly followed behind her as she gently pulled me towards the nearest couch.

There was a cold hardness that I suddenly became aware of pressing into my palm and I looked down at where Rayne’s hand held mine as she tugged me along.  That’s when I saw it.  The plain, elegantly understated little silver band.

Wrapped around her ring finger.

I came to a screeching halt with a gasp, yanking her hand up to my face and forcing a yelp out of her as she stumbled back towards me.  “You got married?!”

Scratching her cheek with her free hand, she shrugged. “Uh, well, ye-”

“I didn’t know you got married!  You!” I dragged her over to the man, shoving the beringed hand in front of his nose. “Did you know she got married?!”

He staggered back a tiny step, his wide eyes darting from me to Rayne and back. Then he tentatively raised his own hand and pointed to the matching band he was wearing.  “...sorta the one she’s married to.”

My eyes were welling up once more.  “That’s… that’s… Congratulations!” I was all but attacking her with another tight hug and she wheezed out an oof.  “I’m so happy for you!”

“Thanks,” she chuckled softly.  “Also… kinda have a baby on the way too, actually.”

“A baby?!” I tore myself away to gape at her.  Then at her stomach.  She was hardly even showing.  “A baby!” I looked to her husband. “Did you know she has a baby?! In there?!” I pointed at her belly.

He glanced away, scratching the back of his head with the barest hint of a blush and pleased little grin twitching at one corner of his lips.  “...sorta the one who put it in there.”

“Riku!” Rayne hissed.

“What?!”

With a grumbling huff, she turned her back on him and stomped the rest of the way over to the sofa with me in tow, putting her hands on my shoulders and pushing me down to sit.  She then plopped down across from me, using the coffee table as a makeshift bench.

“Enough about me. Let’s try this again.  Why are you here?  Don’t get me wrong, sweetie, I’m delighted you’re here, but I haven’t seen you since we were kids. Tell me what happened, why are you crying?” I opened my mouth and took a deep, deep breath, but then she poked an index finger to my lips, silencing me before I’d even begun. “Hold it. Hmmmm,” she narrowed her eyes, pressing her hands together and bringing her fingers up to her mouth.  “...let’s try more specific questions, shall we?  Let’s start with where the phone book came from?” she said, carefully removing said item from my grasp and handing it to Riku, who blinked and frowned but took it.

Alright, let’s try not to overwhelm her this time. Put a muzzle on the motormouth. Keep it concise. To the point.

“I stole it,” I said simply.

“You…” her eyebrows shot up into her bangs before she shook her head.  “Okay, why did you steal it?”

“Because the phone was busted.”

Her head tipped to one side. “The phone…?”

I nodded earnestly.  “These clothes too.”

“Those clothes…” her gaze flicked to my sundress and boots before meeting mine again.  “...are… also busted?”

“No. Stolen. I stole them too.”

“Oh.” She and Riku exchanged a glance.  “Alright... why?”

My shoulders bobbed. “Because I had no munny.”

“Had no…?” her head rocked back at that. “But… but you’re you, how could you possibly-” she cut herself off, scrunching up her nose with a sour twist to her lips.  “Okay, just… help me out here and walk me through this. What happened? From the beginning.”

From the beginning? Really? Well alright, she asked for it.

“We - he and I, that is - knew each other from childhood. Our families were close, so it only made sense that we played together, grew up together, spent time together. Then in high school, we started- well, of course we did, it only made sense, right? Everyone said it made sense and that it was only a matter of time and I figured they were right, so I did. We did.”

I shot up from my seat and began pacing, Riku having to stumble back to get out of my way. My words started blurring into each other, tumbling out faster and faster as I wrung my hands together.

“Before I knew it, years had gone by and we were in our senior year of college and he was asking me and I was saying yes. I mean, of course, I said yes.  He was him, I was me, his family was his family, my family was my family, it only made sense, right? And oh, my parents would be so thrilled, they liked him so much and sure, I liked him too I guess, so…” I shrugged, flinging my hands up, “...why not?”

Rayne had stood up by now, attempting to interject, “Sweetie, sweetie, calm down,” as her fingers snatched for my arm, but I absently evaded as my pacing quickened.

“So we graduated and we planned.  Oh my god,” I groaned, “so much planning, so many people, I just couldn’t, ugh- Luckily mother handled most of it, you’d think she was the one who was- Anyway, it was all falling into place. The musicians, the catering, the cake, the flowers, the dress, the place, the- oh my god, the place! Radiant Garden! What a lovely building, the perfect venue, so gorgeous with all those fountains and leaves and vines and marble, right in the middle of the beautiful city of Twilight Town and- Twilight Town! That’s what brought me here, right now, to you! Is I recalled that’s where you were from! Remember, you told me, back at our first year of summer camp? You remember camp, right? What was that one counselor’s name,” I snapped my fingers repeatedly in quick succession, “oh, Anna loved him so much… Olaf! That was it, right? The short, pudgy one with the thinning hair and big nose and adored everything about summer and liked warm hugs and-”

“Elsa!” Rayne grabbed my face, squishing my cheeks together, getting me to stop for a second. “I-”

But one second was all she was going to get.

“Right. Off topic.” My expression hardened as I yanked my head free of her grasp and resumed pacing once more. “Back track. Rewind. So. It finally came. The day. You know… The Day. And I was there. I was in the back, by myself, in my dress, in my makeup, thinking this is it. This is what it all comes to. This is my life. My future. Then it hit me.” I halted mid step, spinning on my heel to look her in the eye and said dead serious, “He hates dogs.”

She blinked once, then twice.  “He…?”

“Hates dogs, yes. Oh sure, he claims he’s allergic, but I’ve seen him around dogs before and he hasn’t sneezed. Not once. And I love dogs. I’ve always wanted one. A giant white one bigger than me that’s just pure fluff on four legs with floppy ears and a curly tail and I’d name it Marshmallow because how perfect would that be and- Anyway, I realized that was never gonna happen now, not with him hating dogs! And who hates dogs anyway?! They’re dogs, Rayne! Dogs! And that’s… that’s just when it all started falling apart!”

Was I hyperventilating? Pretty sure I was hyperventilating.

“And I just… I suddenly had so many questions! Was this really what I wanted? Why was I doing this? Because it’s what he wanted? Because it would please my parents? Because it’s what everyone said would happen? Because it made sense? Do I even love him? And it just struck me… no! No, I don’t think I do!  I don’t think I ever did!”

My steps began to falter, the room felt like it was spinning.

“That’s when… That’s when Anna came to get me, and she took one look at me and she... she just knew!  Somehow, she knew! And she didn’t even have to say anything, she was already helping me.  Before I realized it, she’d managed to jimmy open a window in the back, this really teeny-tiny window, I don’t even know how I managed to get through it, big poofy, frilly dress and all, but I did and I just started running and running and-”

Rayne grabbed my hands and jerked me into a staggering stop, shouting, “Elsa!” I looked at her, eyes round and panting, wobbling slightly where I stood. She returned my gaze, brow furrowing and saying gently, “Are you… Were you going to get… Was today supposed to be your… wedding day?”

“I…”

Was it getting darker in here? I was suddenly feeling so tired.

“I…”

I blacked out.

Author’s note: So in this AU, Elsa is an antisocial emotional basket case and when she loses control of her emotions, instead of unleashing a burst of ice, she unleashes a burst of nervous babbling xD Sorry, no Lea yet this chapter, I feel like there’s no harm in telling you all now, he doesn’t show up until the end of chapter 3! Please be patient with me for a couple chapters while I do some setup first to get Elsa where she needs to be before the fluffy romcom shenanigans can truly begin. Please just stick it out until the end of chapter 3 and I'm pretty sure you'll be sucked in by then :) Oh, and Rayne is my friend’s OC, much love and many thanks to her for letting me borrow her!

NEXT CHAPTER || NEWEST CHAPTER

[upthenorthmountain]

Only Love - Together

Happy birthday @karis-the-fangirl! For you, I have managed to finish this. I hope you have a wonderful day :D

Previous Chapters: Part 1, Part 2

This story and the larger upthenorthmountain modern AU Kristannaverse have no affiliation with the real-life town of Arundel and any similarities with the town, its people and its actual summer festival are purely coincidental.

Together

But as Anna lay on the sofa disconsolately that Sunday evening, her phone beeped. It was Jessica.

oh btw i gave kris your number hope thats ok

Anna scowled at her phone. Rude! I mean, if she wanted Kristoff to have her number, she would give it to him herself. Gladly. Or up until last night she would have. Ugh, now he would ring and be really nice and explain how he really liked her as a friend, and he was happy to forget everything that had happened, and he hoped he’d see her soon, but in a friend way. And she’d be forced to see him and pretend everything was cool while secretly dying inside. So she wouldn’t be able to go to Sven and Jessica’s ever again and she’d have to make all new friends and everything would be stupid and terrible and all because she couldn’t control herself and gave into every immediate instinct like a TODDLER or a, a GOAT.

The phone rang. An unknown mobile number. Anna jumped and dropped it on the floor.

It lay there, on its back, ringing. Oh god. Oh god oh god. Just answer it, woman, it’s probably a PPI spam call.

“Hello?”

“Ah, hi, Anna?”

It was him, oh god. Oh no oh no oh no. “Hi, Kris? I mean I guess this is Kris, Jessica just texted and said she gave you my number, which is fine, I just - um. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Ah. I - Anna, I wanted to apologise for last night. The last thing I wanted to do was upset you -”

“It’s - it’s okay! I should be apologising, and I am, I’m apologising. I’m the one who made everything awkward, I’d really like to just forget it. Pretend it never happened. I was drunk, I’m sorry.”

“Pretend it never happened?”

“Please. We’re friends, it’s cool.”

There was a pause. Then Kristoff said, “Well, this is awkward.”

“I guess…”

“No, I mean….” he cleared his throat. “Because the other reason I phoned you was to ask you out.”

“....what?”

“It has been explained to me,” he said, “At great length, over the course of this afternoon, that I am an idiot, and if I like you and you like me then we should spend some time just the two of us, to - explore that further. And that sounded about right to me, once Sven had finished his harangue, so I was wondering if you wanted to go to the festival thing in the park with me next weekend. There’s live bands and food stalls and things. I mean, if you want to. If I’m not being even more of an idiot.”

“....Sven spent a whole afternoon calling you an idiot and telling you to ask me out?”

“Except for when Jessica was doing it, yeah. You should probably know that they’re pretty invested in this. You haven’t actually answered.”

“No. I mean, no I haven’t, but yes. Yes, please.”

“Okay!” She could hear the relief in his voice. “That’s - awesome. Cool. Okay, I’ll check the times and call you later in the week, okay?”

“Okay, great. Okay, I’ll talk to you later.”

“Okay. Bye, then. Anna.”

“Bye,” she almost whispered, and the line went dead as he ended the call.

Anna sat for a moment, her phone in her hands. Then she shook herself, and saved his number carefully to her contacts, and went to text Jessica and tell her - but no. Not straight away. She would let herself sit here for a moment, for one perfect moment, enjoying this feeling. Before she undoubtedly did something to muck it up again.

----

Her phone rang again about twenty minutes later.

“Soooo? Did he ask you out?”

“Jess!”

“Well, did he?”

“As if you don’t know.”

Jessica laughed. “I was just worried he’d bottle it. Sven practically had to threaten him.”

“That makes me feel great, thanks.”

“Oh, no, he wanted to! He was just all, what if she doesn’t want to talk to me, what if she says no, won’t it make everything awkward, and I was like, I got the impression everything was already awkward? But anyway. He did, so. He’s a good boy really.”

“Mm.”

“So, what are you going to wear?”

“I don’t know! He like literally JUST called. Oh no, I have to decide what do wear….what if I do something stupid. Like say something stupid. Or, or I spill my drink all over myself, or something, and he changes his mind about me, and -”

“What do you mean? Don’t be ridiculous. Anyway. He’s definitely seen you spill a drink on yourself before.”

“...um. Maybe?”

“Yes, you remember, it was only a couple of weeks ago and he was definitely there - and that time at the barbecue, when you took a bite of your burger and got ketchup all down your front - and at the mini golf, when you tripped over your club and fell over and skinned your knees, and we were all trying to give you tissues and things and you were insisting you were fine with blood running all down onto your socks -”

“WHY are we doing this?”

“I’m just saying - he’s seen all these things and he still asked you out. So I’m not sure what you could do to put him off, unless you were planning on being, like, WILDLY racist or something - oh, Anna, do you remember when someone made you laugh when you were eating Doritos and you choked and some went up your nose and then you blew your nose and it was all orange -”

“I’m a disaster human, I know, everyone apparently knows, please stop now.”

“Sorry. I’m stopping. But, isn’t it nice to go out with someone who already knows you this well? And wants to be with you anyway?”

“Rude.” But she had to admit, it was nice.

----

He felt - not broken, exactly, but - raw. Bruised. After Maria, part of him wanted to crawl away into a corner and lick his wounds, wait for everything to heal, wait to feel normal again, whatever normal felt like.

But.

If he waited, he’d miss her, he was certain of that. She was so - everything she was, and someone else would see it, soon enough. Sven had gone on at length about striking while the iron was hot and Kristoff knew he was right even as he wished for a little more time.

-----

The annual Arundel Summer Festival was in the park. Anna met Kristoff at the gates at four, or close enough to four, after she’d tried on every outfit she owned, and put her hair up and taken it down and put it half-up; and her sandals were super-pretty but also they rubbed if, for example, you had to run halfway across town because you were nearly late for a date you were super-excited about. But she was here now.

He was wearing a shirt, was the first thing she noticed. Not a t-shirt, a shirt with buttons, and jeans that looked suspiciously new. He’d brushed his hair, and he had a picnic blanket rolled up under his arm.

“I thought we could go listen to the music for a bit,” he said, “Then maybe get something to eat, there’s a lot of stalls - and there’s bands into the evening, I think, but we don’t have to stay the whole time, it’s up to you -”

“That sounds good! Great.”

“Great.” They beamed at each other.

Anna had been so worried it would be awkward, or she would make it awkward again somehow, but after the first little while everything was great. They sat on the picnic blanket - while on the stage a school band played a medley of musical theatre tunes that was actually pretty good - and talked. Then they walked round the food stalls and couldn’t decide what to eat so took a few things back to their blanket to share, and if Anna did nearly choke on a piece of naan because Kristoff made her laugh at the wrong moment then that was the kind of thing that could happen to anyone. A couple of times Anna got inquisitive texts but she ignored them. Jessica could wait.

Kristoff came back from putting the remains of their meal in the bin and sat down on the blanket next to her, leaning back on his hands. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this relaxed on a date before,” he said, then hesitated as if afraid he’d given too much away.

“Me neither. Must be the music,” Anna said, nodding towards the stage where some men with guitars were doing a sound check. Kristoff laughed.

He was so close. He was leaning right towards her, and his smile was slowly fading to be replaced with a look of almost wonder, almost - she didn’t know what; his eyes went to her lips then back up, and her heartbeat was almost drowning out the words kiss me kiss me kiss me kiss me chanting in her head.

He bent his head down, leaning in, and the anticipation was delicious but also she was going to scream with the effort of not leaping forward and pinning him down. She closed her eyes instead, feeling his breath on her lips before, finally, gently, slowly, he kissed her.

Now she let herself push forward. Now she ran her hand over his shoulder and to the back of his neck, as he kissed her again, more assuredly this time.

He was so close, and he smelt so nice, and Anna longed to pull him down onto the blanket next to her - on top of her - and...

...and get thrown out of the Arundel Summer Festival for indecent, non-family-friendly behaviour, that was what. Anna couldn’t help it, she started giggling, and Kristoff pulled away. “What?” he said, smiling.

“Nothing,” Anna said. “Just happy, that’s all. The kiss was nice,” she added. “You can do that again if you want.”

So he did.

[thekwanderer]

Today again felt like three separate days! It also was quite action packed. We started the day with another delicious breakfast of dosas and Indian parathas. I tried to eat a little lighter since I definitely over ate the day before. Bobby leaned in and his stomach is definitely feeling better since he got to India since there is little to no cross contamination. We met up with my friend Stephanie who went to college with me and her husband Patrick. They had gotten in at 2 am after their trip to only be turned away because the hotel had overbooked! They were troopers though and ate breakfast at the hotel with us. We then got ready for the Haldi ceremony! And as usual fashion, the groom's family was late (an hour to be precise).

The Haldi ceremony is when family members rub turmeric on the bride and groom. In this ceremony, they had mustard oil, yogurt, and turmeric powder and each person had two little utensils with some sort of green leafy plant tied on to them. You are supposed to dip the leaves into the oil, yogurt, and then turmeric and touch the bride and groom on their feet, knees, shoulders, cheeks, and then the top of their heads. It's meant to be a ceremony that helps the couples fertility. They even let the guests partake and it was fun smearing it on Anna and Rahul! After each person has their turn with the leaves, they mix together the rest of the ingredients into a box and mixed it into a paste. The family then proceeded to smear it on the bride and grooms' faces. After that was done, the family began to sing and guests danced around. Rahul's family were all wearing these beautiful pieces of clothing in a deep mustard yellow color. Anna wasn't sure of the customs so we didn't dress up.

After the ceremony, we took an Uber into more of the center city to a mall called Select CITYWALK. We got a chance to meet up with our friends, Ishan and Namrata, a couple who we meet up every week in Seattle for trivia. Worlds colliding! I brought Stephanie and Patrick along with us and we went to a store called FabIndia to get some traditional clothes. Bobby got a long kurta in a copper orange and I got a salwar kameez in blue with orange accents. It was fun trying on other clothes! However I started feeling a little sick that I deduced later that it some dehydration. We went Punjab Grill that everyone raved about! I wasn't able to partake, but the highlights were the grilled paneer, the grilled chicken tikka, and the black daal. We had a lovely time meeting up with Ishan and Namrata but we had to leave the mall since it was getting close to rush hour on a Monday!

At the hotel I wasn't feeling so well, but rallied for the wedding! I change into my new Indian threads, which are amazingly comfortable, and go see what's going on with the bride. What I loved about this experience is that I had a backstage pass to all of the preparation for the bride. There were about 100 people at this wedding and the bride only had 20 on her side. She asked us to be a part of her wedding procession. We were supposed to start the wedding at 7, but as we learned quickly in India nothing goes to plan and you have to roll with it. Luckily, the groom thought ahead and rented a hotel room and filled it with liquor for folks to partake in while waiting. Indians love their whisky so that was definitely in attendance.

I got to peek into the bride's area where she got ready. There was a professional woman who was the lead who had 3 assistants. Some of the first women at work that I've seen! Anna's hair looked like it took hours. She had not one, but two fake pieces of hair. One to give a platform on top of her head to attach the veil and one to make her bun more voluminous. Around her bun there fresh flowers that were quite fragrant but I'm not sure what they were (I'm guessing jasmine). Her outfit was pretty simple to get on. It was a top and skirt separate, but the skirt was super heavy at about 20 pounds and there was so much structure underneath the dress that it could stand up on its own. On top of her henna she also had bright red and gold bangles that went up half of her forearm. The original tradition is to keep them on for 13 months, but most modern brides keep them on for 13 weeks instead. But Anna and Rahul have already been married for a year, so no need to prove her devotion to him. Additionally she had on a bracelet with long dangling pieces that almost look like bells. Anna was supposed to wave these pendant things over single women's heads to ensure that they get married soon, but I didn't see her actually do that. Lastly, Anna had to put on a veil. It was a pink tulle like material, but it had to be folded in such a way and pinned. I'm not sure of the significance, but apparently it's a big deal because it took 20 minutes and the head attendant did it twice. Once ready, it was hurry up and wait! Simultaneously there was a big drum show to entertain the groom's side of the family while the bride gets ready. I didn't see any of it since I was waiting for the bride to get ready.

Finally, around 8:30, they are ready for us. We go downstairs and they bring out a canopy made out of flowers. Anna's two sisters are up front to hold the front two corners, but there are also 6 more of us holding up the sides of the canopy. We then walk out to the rest of the crowd in our little procession to Christina Perry's "1,000 Years" from the Twilight soundtrack which I get a giggle out of since I know Anna is not a huge fan of that movie. The music quickly switches to an Indian love ballad and we approach Rahul on the stage. He's wearing white and has a red turban on. Once they make it to the stage, after a flurry of pictures of course, Anna needs "some friends on stage". Of course, being the Wellesley women we are, we get on stage. They turn us away and ask for the men. It turns out that they need guys to help lift Anna into the air while Rahul is being lifted to put flower garlands on each other.

As that ceremony goes on, the DJ is already spinning beats. One of Rahul's cousins really wants to dance, and of course Bobby is the first to say yes. They jump on the dance floor, and because they look like their having so much fun, others join in. Sadly our dance party was cut short because they started the religious ceremony. There was another stage where everyone has to take off their shoes. It was a gorgeous platform, it was green and there were real flowers hanging from the ceiling next to a chandelier. Anna's and Rahul's families were on stage and the priest was reciting a mix of Hindi and Sanskrit which Anna and her father had two repeat. Anna did a pretty good job and even the aunties and uncles we were standing nearby were impressed. There is also a small fire that they stoked with ghee and Anna's family poured other things into like puffed rice. In this ceremony, Anna made 7 promises to the groom and they walked around the fire 7 times. It was very cool to see, however, strangely no one can tell us what the 7 promises are after the fact. So you'll just have to know that it was a religious ceremony. The ceremony traditionally went in for 7 days, it was shortened to 7 hours, but they did the ceremony in about one hour.

During the religious ceremony, Rahul's youngest aunt gave us a hot tip. It turns out that there's a tradition where the bride's friends steal the groom's shoes and hold them ransom until he gives them what they want. Anna's sisters proceed to steal one, and us as Anna's friends stole the other. We didn't understand the tradition very well since it was second hand knowledge, but we knew there were spies everywhere since Rahul's side outnumbered us at least 2 to 1 if not 4 to 1! We all stand in a tight circle and take out our scarves and wrap them around our hands so people don't know who had the shoe. Then, we walked to different corners of the wedding area to hide it! The time finally comes around where the negotiating began. Anna's sisters cave quickly to $50 each. The Wellesley women drove a harder bargain. We weren't happy with just money, we wanted more. After fierce negotiations, we landed on a pretty good deal. First, Rahul will treat us to a nice thanksgiving dinner on Thursday in Goa. Secondly, he will visit each of Anna's friends in their cities within the next year (Seattle, LA, Philadelphia, and NYC). And lastly, as a kickback to our informant, we said that Rahul had to take his aunt to a nice spa day.

After the main ceremony, dancing resumed and we ate a hearty dinner of Indian food. But by this time it was 10 pm on a Monday and the wedding was dying down. The day was an incredible experience that I don't think I'll have one of again. I was so happy that we made the long trip halfway around the world to see one of my dear friends Anna get married.

[lostbutterflyutau]

EoA Mirror World AU Synopsis (Part 2)

Other Parts: Part 1 Part 3 Part 4

Unknown to the students of Walter Mickey School, they weren’t the only ones to witness the magic that happened the night of the Spring Fling. That same evening, in a local diner, everyone in the building is arguing. The cooks, the waitresses, the customers…no one is happy. However, it isn’t a random occurrence. It’s the result of a magic incantation by three girls who absorb the negative energy into the jeweled pendants around their necks. One of them complains about it not being enough and the second says that it’s because the magic in the Mirror World isn’t the same as that in the Ever Realm.

Girl 1: I wish we’d never been banished to this awful place

Girl 2 Really? I love it here!

Girl 3: For realsises? Because I think this place is the worst!

Girl 1: I think you’re the worst.

Girl 3: Oh yeah? Well,  I think you’re…

Girl 2: I’ll tell you one thing. Being stuck here with you two isn’t making this world any more bearable.

The second girl sighs, goes to put her head down on the table and is jolted out of the motion by a sudden blast of light in the distance. Intrigued, she rushes out of the diner just in time to see a bright, multi-coloured light fill the sky in the distance before first crashing down and then disappearing. The pendant around her neck reacts to it just as her friends file out behind her. She reveals to them that what they just witnessed was Maruvian Magic. One of the girls comments that the Mirror World doesn’t have Maruvian Magic, only to be told that, apparently, it does now. And they’re going to use it to make this world bow to them.

A few weeks later, after the events of Elena’s Mirror World adventure, the school is preparing for a musical festival in mid-April with student-made bands as the headlining acts.

Eager to turn things around, Carla attempts to help her classmates with poster decorating but finds that…no one is buying her attempted change of heart. The other students are wary and want little, if nothing, to do with her.

It should be noted here that Carla has gone through the “Obligatory character development appearance change.” Whereas, her Mirror World dress was previously black and played with the spider pattern from her Malvago robe, she now wears a dark purple dress accentuated with black on the ruffle layer of the sleeves and bottom of the skirt that matches her sash accessorised with a lavender rose on the right side. The outfit is completed with black leggings, flats and a purple ribbon woven into her braid. However, the rest of her hair, including her fringe, now hangs down, the two long pieces resting on either side of her face.

Discouraged by her classmates’ rejection, she thinks to leave, but Anna calls out to her and she stalks across the gym amidst whispered rumours and comments to her new friends. The only people who want her around. Though she used to walk with an air of confidence, much of it has dissipated since the events of the Spring Fling as she tries to find a new place among the students. She’s unusually unsure of herself, comments to her friends how she didn’t know half the school was going to show up for the preparation. In an effort to be positive, Rapunzel shows off their poster, which Anna excitedly claims smells like cake because she thought to use royal frosting instead of paste.

While they discuss their poster, Principal Paloma walks in. She thanks the students for their help in planning and preparing for the event, which will be the first of its kind, saying that the money raised from it will be used to fund the annual summer trip. She concludes by saying that she believes the event will be the most exciting since the Spring Fling, which prompts everyone to glare towards Carla, who, unsure of how to react, awkwardly plays with one of her hair pieces before slinking down against the wall. She then laments about it later before her friends’ band rehearsal.

Carla: I am never going to live that down

Snow White: You were pretty bad at the Spring Fling

Carla: A sorceress. I turned into a raging sorceress and destroyed half the school.

Anna: And tried to turn everyone here into teenage zombies for your own personal army

Rapunzel cuts in, says that at least Carla has them on her side and that they have forgiven her. Belle adds that the experience seems to have brought the students closer together and made for a better school atmosphere before they launch into their song, which Carla sits back to watch. During the number, each one of the band members magically acquires her tiara and princess hairstyle, which, after the song, Rapunzel comments on, saying that she can’t believe that it happens whenever they play music. She contemplates making matching accessories for their tiaras.

Belle: But, why does it happen? Princess Elena took her scepter back to Avalor, right? So, shouldn’t the magic have gone with her?

Moana: Who cares why it happens? It makes my band awesome!

Rapunzel: Your Band?

Moana: Well, it was my idea to start the Crownlets so we could play in the showcase. Plus, I am the lead singer and guitarist.

The other Crownlets exchange the same annoyed look just as the door to the music room opens, revealing the music instructor whom the room belongs to and the two freshman boys who used to follow Carla around and do her bidding. The music instructor comments on the improved sound of the band and Moana says that they are still things they need to work on, like Rapunzel coming in late and Anna sounding flat during the chorus, earning a series of looks behind her back while the teacher picks up a folder from her desk, instructs the boys to follow her for their lesson, not catching the wary looks they give Carla as they walk by. She sighs, wonders if they’ll ever forgive her, considering she used them for her own gain and then just threw them aside despite promising a pay off.

Carla: Ugh. The old me really was awful, wasn’t she?

Though hesitant to stir up trouble, the other girls agree, but Belle points out that it’s more important that Carla is making an effort to turn her life around. Carla thanks her, says that the sentiment is nice, but that the other students don’t feel the same way. Before she can say anything else, she’s called to the main entrance, explains as she heads out that she volunteered to show some new students around. She reveals that she wanted to introduce herself and let them get to know the “new” her before they hear the floating stories about the “old” her. She leaves and Moana turns to the band, suggests playing one more song before lunch. Snow White asks if they can please play one of the songs she wrote, only to be brushed off.

Meanwhile, Carla meets with the students, who are the three girls previously seen in the diner. She tells them that Walter Mickey is a great school and the leader of the pack comments under her breath about how there’s something “magical” about the place as the tour begins. Along the way, they come across posters for the festival and Carla tells them about how the whole school is working on the showcase.

Girl 2: A musical showcase?

Carla: I know you’re new, but I’m sure Principal Paloma would have no problem letting you sign up. If you’re interested, that is.

Girl 1: We have been known to sing from time to time

Girl 3: Helloooo, we sing like all the time. It’s how we get people to do what we want.

Catching Carla’s suspicious expression, the second girl cuts in, saying what her friend meant to say was that being in a musical showcase sounds like the perfect way to integrate into the school. The third one agrees that she would have said that and the first says that yes, she would have if she wasn’t “the worst.” They start bickering and the second says to excuse them because they’re idiots. Carla begins to sense that something is off, and a lingering tension hangs in the air as the new girls fiddle with their pendants, which Carla compliments before trying to get a closer look, only to have her hand smacked away when she goes to touch. The girl tries to play it off, says that the jewellery means a lot to them and they’d hate for them to get damaged. Normally, Carla would understand, as her own jade necklace was a gift from her father, but something about the tone they use is…strange. She recognises the signs of someone trying to hide something as the girls saunter off in the opposite direction and she heads into the cafeteria to meet with her friends.

At the lunch table, Belle inquires about the tour Carla gave and the smaller girl confesses that there was something…off about the new girls. Anna tries to guess what she means, but all of her guesses are nothing more than silly gestures. Moana interrupts, tells her to let Carla finish her story.

Moana: Maybe we should just let her tell us?

Carla: That’s the thing. I can’t quite put my finger on it. They just acted…strange around me. Maybe someone already talked to them? Told them about my past. Ugh. So much for making a good first impression.

Meanwhile, outside the doors, the new girls are scheming, coming up with a plan to use their power of song to pit the students against each other in an attempt to revive their “true, Maruvian Magic.” Their leader says that their voices are just strong enough to make the students “want something so badly they’ll fight for it.” One of the girls scoffs, says that this plan is just a rehash of what they’ve been doing and the leader snaps that no, it’s not. There’s Maruvian Magic at the school and, because of that, the negative energy gathered from this specific group of students will give them the power needed to take over the Mirror World. And so, they burst into the cafeteria, where, in song they encourage the students to turn the musical showcase into a Battle of the Bands instead.

Me and you. You and me. Why don’t we see who is better? We don’t have to be one in the same thing. Oh, what’s so wrong with a little competition? Are you afraid of failing the audition?

It doesn’t matter who you hurt if you’re just proving you’re the best.

Their song stirs up a series of negative emotions in the students, bringing out their worst traits as they all launch into heated, unnecessary arguments with each other. Well, all of them except for Carla and the girls. After observing the scene, Anna declares, “Oooooh. They’re that kind of off,” as the girls quickly and collectively realise that there are dark forces at work, which they talk about on the way out of the cafeteria.

Carla: Those three are clearly in possession of some kind of dark magic. Trust me, I would know. Besides, how else do you explain what happened back there?

They decide to inform Principal Paloma, Belle concluding that, the last thing she needs is another WMS event ruined by “some power-hungry monster.” Realising what she said, Belle backs down, says that she meant no offense and Carla sighs. When they get to speak with Hortencia, she refutes their claims, says that the three new students are perfectly nice girls. She then asks if it’s possible that Carla is only looking to make someone else out to be a “bad element” to cover up her own actions at the Spring Fling. Moana jumps in, claims that they saw with their own eyes what happened in the cafeteria and Hortencia points out that their band is in the showcase and theorises that they are simply worried about the competition. She then reveals that the new students have also signed up for the showcase and even demonstrated their song for her and the music instructor assisting with the showcase. She claims that having a competition is a great idea and sends the girls on their way.

The girls gather outside around the statute portal. Snow White says that she can’t believe the other group made it to Principal Paloma first and Moana says she isn’t surprised. After all, they’ve gotten to everyone at this point. Anna points out that no, they haven’t gotten to everyone and Belle confirms her statement, realises that, even though their group was in the cafeteria, that they’re not affected by the spell.

Moana: It’s not like we haven’t faced darkness before and knocked it on its butt! No offense.

Carla: None taken…Again.

Snow White points out that the last time, they had Elena with them and that, even if there is magic within them, it only comes out when they play music. Rapunzel comments that she wishes they could get in contact with Elena but that, unfortunately, she doesn’t think they have mobiles in her world. Moana then suggests that they go to Avalor and find her. Before they can make a plan, Carla speaks up, says that she has a better idea. She leads them to her locker and pulls out a purple notebook, reveals that, two weeks prior, the princess visited and gave her an enchanted notebook that allows her to write letters through the worlds. She explains that if she writes a letter in her book, it should appear in the pages of one that Elena has.

Moana: What are you waiting for? Try it!

Carla: I never thought I’d ever actually be writing this, but…Dear Princess Elena…

Meanwhile, in Avalor, Elena and Naomi are preparing a set of notes just before a Grand Council Meeting. While they gather up the papers from Elena’s bedroom floor, Naomi notices and points out that the book on her nightstand is glowing. Startled, Elena rushes over, flips open to the letter. She tells Naomi to go to the meeting without her, that her friends in the Mirror World need help and seeks out Mateo, who’s working on new spells in his workshop. After interrupting, Elena has him read over the letter. He concludes that, the way Carla described them, the students sound like Sirenas, which confuses Elena, who says that the Sirenas are their allies now. Mateo levitates a book over, explains once he finds the chapter that these aren’t the Sirenas they know. They’re three rouge Sirenas from years ago who wanted to do more than simply crash ships. They wanted to see all humans eliminated. So, they made a deal with a powerful Malvago. The man agreed, giving them magical jewels to enhance their song, allow them to lure multiple groups at once and even pit humans against one another at the price of them needing to absorb and channel the dark energy from these people to enhance his power, which he promised to use for their cause. Unfortunately, this ultimately corrupted them further. However, the royal wizard of Maru (at the time) caught wind of this and decided that he could not allow them to carry out this plan. He used his magic to take down the Malvago and found a way to banish the Sirenas to a world where their magic would be forever lost. The Mirror World.

Confused, Elena says that, if the Maruvians are involved, then they must have been banished ages ago. Why resurface now? Mateo replies that he doesn’t know, but that if these are indeed the same group of rouge Sirenas, then that world could be in great danger.

Elena decides in that moment that she has to return to the Mirror World and rushes off to pack herself a bag. In the middle of her haste, Skylar appears on her balcony and inquires about her rushing around. Elena explains that she has to go back to the Mirror World, invites him to come along since he was a huge help last time. Skylar says he actually came to discuss something else, but figures it can wait and agrees to go along. By the time she crosses through, the girls are hanging around by the statue after school. Moana laments about the wait, says she doesn’t think Elena is coming just before the princess steps through the portal and is eagerly greeted by her friends before telling them that she has bad news about the new students.

At the book café, Rapunzel says that she’s sorry they called Elena back during a “time of crisis” but, regardless, they still have catching up to do. Elena fills them in on a few of the happenings in Avalor asks what’s going on around the school besides it “becoming the target of dangerous magical beings from the Ever Realm.” Moana admits that the Sirenas appearing isn’t the only magical occurrence and shows the princess a video on her phone of the Crownlets’ band members’ partial transformation. She explains that it happens whenever they play together.

Elena: Hmm…The Scepter of Light was returned to Avalor but some of its magic may have remained here with you girls. Now that we’re all back together, we should be able to use that magic on the Sirenas, just like when we used it on Carla when she turned into that power-crazed sorceress…No offense.

Carla: None taken. I’m getting used to it.

Elena decides that the sooner they act, the better and asks where they can find the Sirenas. Anna reveals that there’s going to be a party that night for all the bands who signed up for the showcase, including the Sirenas. Unfortunately, it turns out to not be much of a party. Due to the spell, the students are divided, only staying with their own bands and refusing to mingle with each other. While Elena is observing this, the Sirenas make their entrance and take in their handiwork, reveling in the tension they’ve created among the students. The leader comments that this is only the beginning and to imagine what kind of energy they’ll get once the Battle of the Bands actually starts. Her comment is overheard by Elena, who declares that there will be no battle and joins hands with the other girls with the intent to use their joint magic against the Sirenas. However, nothing happens and Elena wonders why, whispers to Skylar that she was sure that the girls coming together would bring out the magic needed to defeat the Sirenas.

The leader of the Sirenas uses this moment to her advantage. She mocks them, says that their group is cocky in claiming that there won’t be a battle. That they seem to think they’ve already won. This statement sets off a whole other set of arguments as the students debate about whose band is better, their negative energy flowing into the Sirenas who quickly see that, unlike everyone else, Elena and the girls aren’t arguing. They realise that the spell doesn’t affect them and their leader declares that they’ve found the magic they’re looking for.

Sirena Leader: Don’t you see? Everyone else has fallen under our spell. But not these girls. These girls are special.

The girls bail out of the party and gather on the school steps. In front of the steps, Elena paces, says that their magic not working doesn’t make any sense to her. After all, them coming together is what stopped the dark magic before. Carla points out that, in order to defeat her, they drew magic out of the scepter she was wielding, theorises that, because the Sirenas’ magic comes from their music that they have to use their own music to defeat them.

Elena: I think you’re onto something. It’s when you play music that you transform, right?

Belle: Yes. Tiaras, glitter, new hair styles…Everything.

Elena: So, maybe the way to defeat the Sirenas is by playing a musical counter spell

However, they realise that, they’ll need to find a way for everyone to hear the song. Rapunzel gasps, remembers that the band competition is the next time that all the students will be gathered in one place. She then says that Elena will be their newest band member and Anna asks what instrument she wants to play. While she plays guitar in Avalor, Elena decides to stick to singing in this world. Moana doesn’t want her taking over as the lead, but Belle steps in, says that Elena is the one with the magical knowledge they need to defeat the Sirenas. The princess agrees, reminding them that they don’t actually have to win, they just have to play their spell during the first round of the competition…Once she figures out how to write one.

She then resolves to get working on the counter spell as she heads back into the school. The other girls pause, ask where she’s going and are told that, the last time she visited, Elena and Skylar stayed in the second floor of the library. Deeming it unacceptable, Anna declares that they’re having an impromptu slumber party at her house where Elena struggles through her “musical counter spell.” When Moana asks how it’s coming, Elena lies, says it’s fine and thanks Snow White for allowing her to borrow her notebook, complimenting the songs she’s already written in it.

Snow White: Thanks. Maybe one day we’ll actually get to play one.

Rapunzel: Elena, I think I speak for everyone when I say that, I don’t know what we would have done if you hadn’t agreed to help us.

Despite their kind words, Elena sighs, disappointed with herself and her poor attempts to put a song together. She wonders why it’s so difficult since she grew up playing and singing, lingering on those thoughts later that night while everyone is asleep. Unable to sleep, Elena heads down to the kitchen, uses the light there to continue working on the spell until being interrupted by Carla, who comments that they really are lucky she’s come to help them.

Carla: Must be nice to have everyone looking to you for answers to their problems instead of waiting for you to cause a problem.

Elena: Just because everyone expects something from you doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed to happen.

Carla: But that doesn’t stop them from expecting it

Elena: Which only makes things worse because the last thing you want to do is…

Together: Let everybody down

They exchange smiles and Carla yawns, decides to head back upstairs and says as she leaves that what they’re doing must be nothing compared to Elena’s responsibilities in Avalor. Once she’s out of sight, Elena sighs, tells herself that she just has to pull this off. She’s defeated far worse villains, after all.

The following afternoon, song rehearsals are not going as well as anyone thought. No one is quite sure of what beat to stay on or the flow of things, so everything, including their singing is extremely off-key. Because of their failed attempts, they can’t activate their transformation either. Moana accuses the other girls of not trying hard enough with the song and, sensing the tension, Rapunzel suggests taking a break to look over some of the outfits she brought for them to try on. Belle sighs, says that the object is to save the school and that they have no time for playing dress-up, to which Rapunzel claims there’s always time to be creative.

Anna: She just wants to make things fun. Isn’t that what being in a band is supposed to be?

Carla: You don’t have time for any of this! You need to check in at the Battle of the Bands in twenty minutes!

Elena points out that the spell isn’t even close to ready, and playing it unfinished might tip off the Sirenas, so the girls decide to simply bide time in the competition to allow Elena to finalize the song. Moana suggests that they do all they can to make it to the finals and wait to unleash the spell then with the entire school in attendance. The others agree and they rush off to the school, where, before the competition starts, Principal Paloma welcomes the bands, claiming that it’s the most exciting event they’ve held and thanking the Sirenas, who revel in the competitive energy, for their idea. The leader comments that she can feel their power being restored just as the Crownlets (and Carla) make their entrance. With them in the room, she adds that their group hasn’t even begun to tap into the most powerful magic around. One of the others points out that the girls aren’t under their spell, only to be told that the Crownlets  they are just as capable of falling apart and being victims as much as anyone else in the room. They just need to be pushed a little.

Before their first number, the Crownlets notice that Rapunzel is missing. But, before they can wonder for too long, she appears in a new outfit decked out in metal chimes and various jewels, claiming that, because they’re performing in front of an audience, she wanted to try something new. Elena then reminds the girls that they have to play well enough to make it into the next round, but to not get so into it that they show off their magic and tip off the Sirenas.

Unfortunately, the number is a bit of a mess due to some sabotage from other students. One group takes advantage of the metal editions to Rapunzel’s costume and uses a series of powerful magnets to not only catch them, but drag her all around the stage. Anna accidentally causes trouble by activating a hidden confetti canon after overhearing another group say they’re boring, and Elena accidentally inhales one of the pieces. With a pat on the back, Snow White gets her to spit it out and is then thrown for a loop of her own when one of the freshman groups starts pointing the spotlight on her. Not wanting to be the centre of attention, she tries to step out of it, only to have it follow her as she runs for and ends up hiding behind the platform Anna’s drums are setup on just before Rapunzel finally pulls away from the magnets, only to have the sleeves completely ripped off her outfit.

Once the number is done, backstage, Belle scolds Rapunzel for her outfit and making them look like fools. Rapunzel snaps back that it wasn’t her fault they were sabotaged and is told that, yes, it is. If she hadn’t had all that metal in her outfit, she wouldn’t have been sabotaged in the first place. Meanwhile, Moana asks Anna about the confetti, says it’s hard to play with the pieces caught in her frets, to which Snow White agrees that it was distracting. Anna then snaps at her for running away from a light the whole time.

In an attempt to defuse the situation, Carla points out that they still sound much better than the other bands and is sure they’ll make it to the next round, not that it matters unless they work on the counter spell and sends her friends off to practice in private, saying to go somewhere the Sirenas won’t hear. In the hall, they literally run into one of the other bands. Elena apologises for bumping into their lead singer, who only mocks her in response. He claims that his band is the one to beat and that Elena is a useless addition to the Crownlets and has no idea what she’s doing.

As they move on, the Sirenas, who were witness to the interaction, mock them behind their backs before being interrupted by the intercom announcing the next band, whom they are playing after. They decide to go on their own way and are confronted by Carla.

Carla: You’re not going to get away with this

Sirena Leader: Why? Because you didn’t? Oh, we know ALL about you, Carla Delgado. You’ve got quite the reputation at Walter Mickey School

Carla: I’m working on it! I’m in a much better place now!

Sirena 3: Waiting in the wings while your friends have all the fun?

Leader: Oh, yes. You girls are SO tight, and yet….They didn’t ask you to be in their band?

Sirena 3: Probably afraid no one would come see them play if SHE was in the group

Sirena 2: Ooh. Too bad. So sad.

Leader: If it’s any consolation at all, no one will remember you at all by the time we’re done.

The Sirenas saunter off, leaving behind a wave of self-doubt for Carla to deal with as she takes in their words and we begin a song montage to show how each of the bands does in moving up the bracket through the weekend while Elena struggles with the counter spell as her friends argue all around her.

Luckily, they make through to the last round of the finals Sunday morning. Carla reminds them of the importance of making it through last round, unless they’re ready to play the counter spell now. Elena says that they’re not and Belle reassures her that they still have time to practice before the finals that night and the girls agree that they’ll stick together and not let their princess down. Snow White then speaks up, asks if they can play their song, but, because this round is such a big deal, Moana insists that they play her song, much to Snow White’s chagrin. However, before they go on, Mirror!Valentina and her band, Valentina and the Visionaries, take a moment to mock and challenge them,

Valentina: Let’s see you top that performance Crown-lames, not that you should be allowed to considering you have such a big advantage over the rest of us

Moana: My amazing guitar skills and singing voice?

Valentina: Seriously? I meant her

*Val points to Elena*

Valentina: If your band is really all that, Moana, you wouldn’t need to bring in some magical wringer to have half a chance. Everyone’s talking about it

Moana snaps that she could win the competition as a solo act, earning a round of glares and head shakes from her band mates before they’re called and file onto the stage. 

Carla: I’ll be here just…watching

During the song, fueled by Valentina’s challenge, Moana puts everything into the performance and gets so into it that she nearly activates her princess transformation. Seeing this, Carla acts quickly, runs out from backstage and shoves her down, throwing off the performance and stopping the magic, but earning the ire of her fellow students who saw the whole thing.

Student 1: Now, that’s the bad girl we love to hate!

Student 2: I knew she was still trouble

Student 3: The real Carla Delgado returns!

Carla: No…It isn’t like that…

Backstage, the girls start arguing again, they scold Carla and tell her that there were other ways to defuse the situation after she says she was only trying to prevent Moana from showing off her magic. Moana snaps that she didn’t help at all, and Belle says that none of this would have happened if she hadn’t been trying to show off to Valentina, who cuts in, sarcastically comments on their “great performance” and adding that her favourite part was watching Carla knock her friend over in a “fit of jealous rage.” Carla snaps that it wasn’t that at all, but not even her friends seem to believe her. She thinks to leave, but stops when, just before the announcement of the final round’s participants, the Sirenas come through the stage store and signing to Principal Paloma and the music instructor as they discuss the results of the round while her friends argue amongst themselves. Rapunzel laments about them not having another chance to play if they lose, says she had the perfect outfit made for the final round, to which Belle snaps that yes, that’s the real tragedy that Rapunzel won’t get to show off her outfit. Moana cuts in and tells them to be quiet because they’re announcing the winner to which Snow White claims doesn’t matter because they know they didn’t win.

Despite everything, the Crownlets are announced as one of the final participants and receive nothing but backlash from their classmates, exiting the gym to a chorus of jeers, boos and some choice words from Valentina, who is then encouraged and pushed by the Sirenas to sabotage the Crownlets’ arrival.

Leader: The Crownlets don’t deserve to be in the finals. Not when your band was so much better.

Sirena 3: And wanted it so much more

Leader: But, I suppose this is how it is going to be. Us versus the Crownlets

Sirena 2: Unless the Crownlets don’t manage to make it to their set or are held up for some reason.

That afternoon during their sound check on the football field’s stage, Valentina interrupts Snow White’s lamenting about how they really shouldn’t have won. She claims that she’s the prettiest and most talented girl at Walter Mickey School and therefore, deserves to be in the finals. She says she refuses to concede and her band mates and pull the lever for the trap door the Crownlets are sitting on, which throws them all below the stage with the Sirenas and Skylar, who had been playing behind one of the amps, being witness to the action.

That night, Valentina’s band is given a slot in the show while the Crownlets remain trapped below the stage. Moana attempts and fails at busting down the door. Belle orders her to stop, saying that she’s been trying for hours and that the door isn’t going to open. Elena sighs, says that, perhaps it’s better that they’re trapped and that the counter spell wouldn’t have worked. Belle contests her, saying that it would have worked if someone hadn’t stolen the spotlight. Moana tells her she doesn’t have to be cryptic about Elena taking over and Rapunzel snaps that Belle was talking about her, which tips off a huge argument between the five main girls while Elena laments about failing. After all, she’s the crown princess. She’s supposed to know what to do.

Belle: It may have been your idea to start a band, but it’s not just your band, Moana!

Moana: I’m the one writing all the songs!

Snow White: I write songs! You just never let us play any of them!

Rapunzel: I’ve been working nonstop on the most amazing outfits for…

Belle: Again with the dresses! No one cares what we’re wearing!

Rapunzel: Well excuse me for attempting to make a creative contribution to the band!

Anna: Does anyone remember fun? I’ll give you a hint! It’s the exact opposite of being in the Crownlets!

As they continue picking at each other, Carla notices that the now visible negative energy rising up from her friends. The same energy that the Sirenas were collecting from the other students! However, there’s a major difference. The energy from the Crownlets has Maruvian Magic interwoven in it. Magic that is being released at the same time the Sirenas are announced take the stage. They’re able to use the magic energy stolen from the girls to enhance their voices and powers during their performance, while, below the stage, Carla snaps at her friends to stop arguing.

Carla: You have to stop! This is what they’ve been after all along. They’re feeding off the magic inside you.

Belle: But, how can they be using our magic? Isn’t it tied to our friendship?

Carla: Ever since you formed this band, you’ve been letting petty things get in the way. I never said anything because I didn’t think it was my place, not when I barely understand this whole friendship thing. I still have a lot to figure out, but I know enough to know that not working out even the smallest problems at the start can turn the magic of friendship into something else.

Elena: And I never noticed. I’m supposed to be the one with all the answers, but all I’ve done since arriving is let you down.

Carla: I don’t think anyone is supposed to have all the answers, but I know now you should be able to count on your friends to help you find them.

Elena: I think you already have!

With a new resolve and diffused argument, Elena declares that they DO have the answer, but it requires them to break free from their trap, so they rush the door in an attempt to break it down, only to have it open on its own to reveal Skylar and the school’s resident DJ student, Esmerelda, who Skylar reveals was never under the Sirenas spell due to never taking off her studio headphones. The girls decide to get the band back together. When Rapunzel asks what version of the spell they’ll be playing, Elena says that it doesn’t matter what song they play. In fact, it doesn’t have to be a spell at all. They just need to stay strong and play together.

Moana suggests playing one of Snow White’s songs and Belle says that they should save the realm “in style” with some of Rapunzel’s handmade outfits that were being stored below the stage. While they get ready, the Sirenas’ performance goes on and their stolen magic begins to activate. They return to their true forms, using both the magic and negative energy to revive the spirit of the Malvago who gave them power. His image appears behind them as a shadow illusion, looking over and reveling in the chaos below.

Up on the hill overlooking the field, the girls meet up with Esmerelda and use her family’s mobile DJ set up to project their music, interrupting the Sirenas’ song and briefly breaking the spell on the students. Just as Elena predicted, all it takes is them uniting together to bring out their magic and activate their princess forms. 

Seeing the challenge from the girls, the Sirenas declare that they’re turning it into a real battle and unleash all of their energy into the spirit of the dark wizard, their own spirits rising from their physical forms to join him forming as they fight music with music. The girls’ magic comes through their instruments. Each note they play interweaving with their magic and allowing them to send their own powerful magic blasts to each of the Sirenas as their spirits attempt to approach and overtake the princesses. Elena attempts to use her voice and throw a sonic song towards them, but it stopped by the Sirena’s own song. The notes combine with the magic rising up from their ruling wizard and the overwhelming amount of dark magic brings the princesses to their knees, literally, Elena’s sole microphone being propelled out of her hand and landing next to Carla’s feet. She hesitantly picks it up, gives it an unsure look.

Elena: Carla, please. We need you.

Fueled by the Princess’ words, Carla forces down her self-doubt, her confidence returning as steps up to the challenge, bringing her friends back up and around with her own song. Together, the other girls stand and sing with her, the additional magic from Carla combining with Elena’s to send out a joint magic blast that finally, permanently cracks the spell over the students, who, along with the Sirenas and the girls, watch as everything comes full circle and Carla earns her own princess transformation with a flowing, violet dress adorned with touches of black and a silver tiara on top of her longer hair. 

The release of the magic within Carla gives them enough of a boost to put their powers together along with the music and now positive attitudes from their fellow students. Like in the battle for the scepter, it’s the girls’ combined effort that is responsible for bringing down the Sirenas and the Malvago’s spirit. Their magic blast destroys the pendants, which are revealed to not only be the vessel for negative energy, but the source of their power. Without them, they can’t sing properly and are reverted to normal, harmless girls.

With things resolved, Moana suggests that, since Elena has to return to Avalor, that…Maybe Carla could join the band and “help Snow White on backup vocals.” She agrees…Kind of. Says that they should know she won’t be satisfied playing background singer and demonstrates her ability by singing one of Snow White’s lyrics, smugly flipping her hair over her shoulder at the stunned looks she receives in response before being pulled into a group hug.

The following morning at the statue, the girls send Elena off, saying that they wish she could stay but know that she has her own responsibilities back home and Elena says that if they ever need her, all they have to do is write, which Carla starts to do.

Dear Princess Elena,

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I actually miss you. Things are looking up for me here in the Mirror World. But, I know I still have a lot to learn about friendship and connecting with people. I hope you don’t mind if I write to you from time to time, because I’m going to do it regardless.

-Carla

[douxreviews]

Quantum Leap - Season Four Review

Since season three was mostly leaps of the week, they made an attempt to shake things up with season four by playing with the formula a bit.

But as always, Quantum Leap is at its best when it does arc episodes about Sam and Al, as they again did in the premiere and the finale. There were a few other strong episodes as well.

4.1 "The Leap Back" (June 15, 1945)": In the fourth season premiere, Sam got to play a brand new character: Dr. Sam Beckett. For the past three seasons, we've been leaping with a Sam who had partial amnesia and was completely disconnected from his real life. Here, he was finally dynamic, brilliant scientist Sam, and surprisingly, married Sam.

Mimi Kuzyk did a terrific job as Sam's wife Donna, another brilliant scientist who kept her existence a secret from leaping Sam because she knew that it would make it harder for him to complete his missions. That was darned selfless of her, and that made her feel worthy of him in short order, since our Sam is quite a guy. I also thought Donna waiting for Sam gave us an obvious parallel to Beth, who waited years for prisoner of war Al to come back from Vietnam.

We finally got a lengthy visit to the actual Quantum Leap Project, with interior decoration that made it look as if Al's handlink exploded. We finally met Gooshie, Dr. Beeks and Ziggy, who changed gender in this episode. As Sam became reacquainted with his life and his wife, he and Al reversed roles and Al got to be the leaper who had to fix what once went wrong (and in Al's lifetime, 1945), while Sam's glee as he got to be the hologram was adorably funny. "Revenge is mine. Thus sayeth the hologram!"

Of course, Sam had to re-leap to save Al, so the status quo was too quickly re-attained. Honestly, I would have loved seeing Sam at home and observing and Al leaping for a few episodes.

4.6 "Raped (June 20, 1980)": You'd think an episode about a man occupying the body of a young woman who'd been raped would be uncomfortable, awkward, preachy, and/or cliched — but no. Instead, it was one of the best episodes of the series, because they did it right.

Sam leaped in because Katie, the victim, was having difficulty testifying against her attacker. Scott Bakula's performance as Sam in Katie's body was terrific; calm and matter of fact, Sam fought on Katie's behalf, refusing to accept the way the townspeople and police kept blaming the victim.

Although I always dislike the way trials on television seem to happen instantly after a crime, the strongest scene was Sam testifying on the stand by simply repeating Katie's own words, as Al held her hand. Even though the reason Al did that was so that Sam could see her, it was also a physical way of showing Al and Sam showing their support of Katie. Excellent episode.

4.7 "The Wrong Stuff (January 24, 1961)": Quantum Leap took on animal experimentation as Sam leaped into a test chimp, and they did a good job acknowledging all aspects of a difficult topic. This is the only episode in which Sam leaps into a non-human. I really liked the little nod to Planet of the Apes when Sam tried to write a note.

4.22 "A Leap for Lisa (June 25, 1957)": The lesson of "A Leap for Lisa" is that whenever they go back to the well and do an episode about Al's past, it's a winner. I'd mostly forgotten this one and it was such a pleasant surprise, the best episode in the season, with the possible exception of "Raped."

Sam leaped into 23-year-old Al and it appeared that he was supposed to save Al's married girlfriend Lisa from dying in a car crash, but Al was so bemused by encountering his younger self in the waiting room that he arrived late, in time to watch Lisa die. Sam's interference changed history so that Al would be convicted of the murder of his commander's wife, Marci, and at one point, when probability went up to 100% that Al would die in the gas chamber, the hologram of Al vanished and was replaced by another observer named St. John (Roddy McDowall, and I loved that they brought in an A-list actor to play the part). When Sam solved the murder, young Al had to leap into his earlier self in order to save himself, Lisa and Marci.

It was so much fun to see Al talking to "Bingo," his younger self, in the waiting room. It was also fascinating that Sam initially leaped into Al in the middle of a From Here to Eternity erotic dream on the beach, too. Has Sam ever leaped into someone dreaming before? Did that happen because his mind is linked to Al's?

What's also fun is how this episode inadvertently relates to Star Trek. Charles Rocket's character was called "Commander Riker," a character on Star Trek: The Next Generation; Terry Farrell, who played Lisa, would join the cast of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine the following year (1993), and of course, Scott Bakula went on to star in Star Trek: Enterprise in 2001.

Honorable mention

4.11 "The Play's the Thing (September 9, 1969)": A nice episode about ageism. I liked how Sam saw nothing wrong with being a younger man in love with an older woman, and how he immediately and passionately defended Jane's choices and helped her achieve her dreams. Anna Gunn from Breaking Bad had a nice supporting role as Jane's daughter in law.

4.15 "A Song for the Soul (April 7, 1963)": Scott Bakula in an African American girl group, as he backed up the daughter of a preacher who wanted to break into the big time. (The daughter, not the preacher.) This one was sweet. Plus I think it was the first time Sam leaped into a black woman. I particularly liked the sedate gray outfit Al wore in church. (Well, "sedate" for Al.)

4.16 "Ghost Ship (August 13, 1956)": Despite an occasional uncomfortable resemblance to Airplane!, this was a good one about a plane stuck in the Bermuda Triangle. It also featured a very young Carla Gugino.

4.19 "Moments to Live (May 4, 1985)": Sam leaped into a star of daytime drama, and Kathleen Wilhoite and Pruitt Taylor Vince kidnapped him for embarrassing reasons. Well written with good acting, and I'm glad that they (mostly) didn't play kidnapping and mental illness for laughs.

What didn't work

There were a few episodes that I thought were poor, and a couple that made me outright uncomfortable. Starting with...

4.12 "Running for Honor (June 11, 1964)": Al as a homophobe? Yes, I get that even somewhat recently, a majority of people were against gays in the military, but I'd like to think that anyone who dressed the way Al did would be a bit more open-minded. At least Sam was understandably disgusted by his attitude and what happened in the episode changed Al's mind, and I doubt anyone would do an episode like this today. We've come a long way in 25 years.

4.13 "Temptation Eyes (February 1, 1985)": Another attempt to do something new, although I don't think it worked. Tamlyn Tomita played a genuine psychic who fell in love with the real Sam, he fell for her, and they actually got to spend a few weeks together. But the acting and writing were poor and cliched, making it more of a miss than a hit. And that's too bad, because I'd always thought it would be nice if Sam got a vacation in the middle of all that leaping.

4.14 "The Last Gunfighter (November 28, 1957)": My word, this one was terrible. It was like they wanted to do an old west shoot-out but couldn't, so they did it anyway. What town in 1957, even one with a corrupt sheriff, would allow two old men to have a gunfight in the center of town? Innocent bystanders, anyone?

4.18 "It's a Wonderful Leap (May 10, 1958)": Another unsuccessful attempt at something new, this time with Liz Torres from Gilmore Girls as a genuine guardian angel. What bothered me more than I can say was Al doing fat jokes along with even worse Latino jokes. Liz Torres deserved better than this.

4.20 "The Curse of Ptah-Hotep (March 2, 1957)": Intended to be a rip-off of King Tut's tomb and Howard Carter with mysterious deaths, but with the budget of a one-hour TV show, anyone with any knowledge whatsoever of archaeology would find this episode painfully bad. I mean, the mummy comes to life and everything. And John Kapelos, who is usually pretty good, played an Egyptian archaeologist (the John Rhys-Davies role in Indiana Jones) with an accent that sounded like a cross between Russian and Spanish. I haven't finished rewatching the series yet, but this might be my least favorite Quantum Leap episode ever. Certainly my least favorite in season four.

Bits and pieces:

-- Notable actors (other than the ones already mentioned): Neal McDonough, James Morrison, Glenn Morshower, Joseph Gordon-Levitt at the age of ten, Harry Groener, Eriq LaSalle, Bob Saget and Amy Yasbeck.

-- Famous people: There was a little boy named Donald Trump in a New York City cab with his father in "It's a Wonderful Leap." I saw it coming and said out loud, "No, no, please don't."

-- As usual, there were a number of homages to movies, including The Rainmaker, The Defiant Ones, the Indiana Jones movies, and A Few Good Men.

To conclude

Although there were still many strong episodes in season four, I think seasons two and three were a bit stronger. Am I wrong?

Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

[saneishemma-blog]

STORYTIME: THE DAY I SAW HIM AGAIN.

I just got to the hotel from the party where I got to see him again. It’s been around 3 years since the last time I saw him and to be honest, my last memories of him are not very pleasant. A lot has happened since then… Before today, I haven’t thought of this guy in forever… okay okay, I have, at least once a day, but my thoughts are more related to curiosity than love. Does he ever think of me? Does he smile when he does or prefers to shake the memories away? Did he ever realize what a huge mistake he made?... Other times, my thoughts come in the form of memories; a picture, a song, a specific moment in life…. Have you ever heard the expression “be careful who you make memories with, those things last forever”?, well… SO – DAMN – TRUE.

I knew coming to this party that there was a 99.99% chance he would be here. I also knew about his new girlfriend since my best friend called me about a month ago with the news. I remember the moment she told me. I took a moment to analyze every single reaction coming from my body and the best part, I remember feeling nothing… Such a relief. After realizing I was over him, I remember going back to the last time I found out he had a girlfriend (about 3 years ago), I was standing right in front of him while he told everybody how happy he was, did I mention he was supposed to be dating me at the time?... Yeap… SUCKED, I literally spat a little bit of my drink back in the cup and tried to keep it together… I also slept with his best friend that night.

I know what you’re thinking, “What the fuck Emma?  What were you doing with that douch?” That’s a LOOOONG story full of good memories (as well as some other bad ones) that will maybe tell you some other time.

Back to the party…

Have you ever had that feeling in which you plan to have a certain (bitchy) reaction towards someone (cause they deserve it) and then your inner and most-honest self tells you “come on girl, you won’t do that, you will fall for his crap again”? That was the brightest marquee sign in my brain at this moment and I was kind of afraid it would come true. I debated all morning with myself even to the point of wondering “why did I come?”, the answer always being, “cause your friends are here, you were invited way before everyone else and a side from him, you really want to see everyone else”.

I know him like the palm of my hand, good and bad, I knew he was going to try to get close and make conversation as if we were friends, I knew he was going to try to make as if nothing ever happened which I find extremely annoying cause dude, you broke my heart and yes, I’m over it and stronger than ever but you intentionally broke my heart and I don’t want you near me. I knew I needed a getaway plan in case he approached me (yes, with his girlfriend there. He’s capable of that).

While I was getting ready, I literally brainwashed myself picturing every possible scenario in my head. What if he was rude, or flirty, or made inappropriate comments? Every time I would find a way (in my head) to reject him gracefully (cause that’s the kind of girl I am). I focused on all the bad stuff, the things unsaid, the questions that didn’t get an answer. I put my outfit on, of course making sure I looked FAB (maybe a little too much for a backyard party but who cares) and got on my way.

I got there pretty early since I promised my friend I would help with the decorations so only a couple of other friends were there. The party hadn’t officially started but the drinking had and by the time he got there, my dear friend Facundo Bacardi was taking great care of me already.

They were saying hello to everyone else while I was adding the finishing touches to the table (or pretending anyways), and by the time they got to me I had had a good couple minutes to process everything. It’s really incredible how much a person’s presence can affect you even when you don’t want anything else from them anymore. He introduced me to the new lady (Anna) and then locked eyes on me and said “is nice to see you”. I’m still not sure if I was glad or angry at that comment.

Other than that, the party went on smoothly. He tried to make conversation a few times and I always found an excuse to cut him off, no one made any sort of comments about the past that would lead to Ana asking questions (Thank God cause I really liked her and I didn’t want any drama) and the world was right again.

At some point, we ran out of ice so I decided to go to the kitchen and find some more and of course, and just cause that’s how the universe works, just when I’m feeling safe and sound I turn around and he was standing right there waiting for me.

I panicked cause I literally felt all my strength fall to the floor. I knew I had to proceed with caution.

He started making small-talk about his mom and other stuff and just as I’m about to ditch him (like the other 20 times he tried in front of everybody) he makes his move…

“Wait, can we talk?”

I said nothing, I just stood there and I guess he tough that was my way of saying -go ahead- but honestly I just froze.

“There are a lot of thing I would like to tell you and I don’t even know where to start but please just listen”.

I remember thinking –you said you wouldn’t do this, you promised yourself, you’re so weak but OMG, we’re finally having this conversation, he will finally admit to his mistake and all my questions will get an answer-.

He started talking about how much he’d changed and how much he’d thought of everything…  He lowers his eyes to the floor and says “please let me explain cause I need this, I need to get this out of my chest”, and guys, those were the words I needed as a reminder... I realized in that very moment that that feeling of “the world is right again” I was telling you earlier was slipping slowly with every word that came out of his mouth. I realized I didn’t need that conversation, what I actually needed was not to have it, I understood that I had to stop him cause no one else would do it for me, I knew I had to put myself first for once.

“Stop!” I said. I didn’t yell because I knew everyone would hear and I wanted to avoid the drama but I said it loud enough for him actually follow my instruction.

His eyes met mine and I could see the confusion in him.

“Just stop”… He didn’t move and I consider just walking out but then I realized I wasn’t’ going to have another chance to say what I wanted to say. It was now or never.

“This was the problem all along. It was always about what you needed, what you wanted, what you were feeling. I played your game with your rules and not once you stop to think what I was feeling or wanting. You need this conversation now? I need it 3 years ago. I had so many questions and things I didn’t understand and not once you had the guts to pick up the phone and just talk to me. I’m good now, I’m great actually and I wish you nothing bad but don’t be mistaken, you broke my heart and of course I got over it but no thanks to you. And now you come and want to talk because YOU need it?!, well I don’t… I don’t only not need this but I don’t care about what you need anymore, I only care about what I need and what I need is to leave this alone. I don’t want to talk about it, I don’t want to relieve it. I’m over it and I’ve moved on so, if you need to set your piece, you better find a church because I don’t need to listen to you”.

I was shaking but in a way, I felt lighter, stronger, complete-er…. I walked out and realized no one had noticed. I rushed to where my best friend was sitting and asked her if she had heard something and she said he hadn’t even realized I was gone. Turns out, you don’t need more than a couple minutes to set your piece if you use those minutes right.

I sat with my friends and picked up the conversation they were having about politics. An awful topic and yet, I was smiling.

The rest of the night I had a ton of fun. I couldn’t help to noticed that every now and then I would turn my face and he would be looking at me but honestly, I didn’t care anymore, that was really it for me. I was done.

___

As I lay down in bed tonight, the whole story is playing in my head like and old movie. Every moment lead me here. I feel strong, I feel pretty, I feel proud I did what I needed to do instead of what I wanted (cause let’s be honest, to hear him say how sorry he was would’ve been great but it would’ve lead to a ton of drama and to open doors from the past I didn’t want to open), I’m happy I didn’t care of the “he’s going to think I’m so dramatic” or “that will make me look so not cool”, I really took care of myself in a way I hadn’t been able to up to now and let me tell you ladies, it feels GREAT.

Moral of the story: There’s no one else in the world that could say or do anything to give you back your piece. You gotta do the work yourself but trust me. Is the best self-esteem pick-up EVER. Think of what you need and what you deserve and go do that!

-XO