#im just. im so emotional over changelings and autism and all that stuff

[plantwriting]

Sometimes you just gotta come up with the weirdest fucking AUs for your own mental health so here it fucking goes:

Galloway with some kind of link to the feyrealm. Galloway where children go missing and get replaced by creatures that look like people but aren’t. Galloway where the swamps surrounding the town are filled with gnomes and trolls, witches and fairies, magical creatures that are as terrifying as they are interesting.

Galloway, where the child of the Deep’s was stolen as a baby and replaced with a copy. Rolan, who was never normal, who didn’t fit in, who couldn’t make friends. Rolan, whose parents punished him whenever he acted too weird, who refused to believe their son wasn’t really theirs, who tried to teach the forest and deals and mischievous spirit out of their child through any means necessary. Rolan, who never understood why he couldn’t just be normal.

Donna Rand, who watched the small child in the crib she’d put him in last evening, and knew it wasn’t her own child. Donna, who picked up the small boy into her arms anyway, fed and clothed him, loved him no matter where he came from. ‘Timothy’ who grew up and knew that wasn’t really who he was. ‘Tim’ who spent his days gardening and exploring the woods, knowing he’d be safe there. Rand, who knew his father hated him for not being the original, for not being human, but who learnt to live with it. Rand, who just hoped Timothy was loved as well, where ever he was.

Kian, who didn’t grow up in Galloway. A nameless child that was taken and replaced, and whose parents never even noticed the difference. A child that was weird and uncanny, with a singsongy voice and who seemed to dance with each step he took. A child who spent more time with wildlife than people because animals and flowers didn’t find him unnatural. A child who craved a family and a world he couldnt remember, always so alone, who eventually chose a name for himself because maybe that would make him into a person finally.

Three changeling children, who eventually met each other. Rolan, who met two boys so unapologetically everything his parents hated, who didn’t shy away from the swamps surrounding their homes, who pranked their neighbors for fun, who let him finally be himself. He wasnt a human, and with them he didnt need to pretend.

Rand, who met two boys that never looked at him and wished he was someone else. Who had nothing to compare him to, who would never see him as ‘Tim’. They’d only see him as Rand, as one of them, as someone to be loved because of, not despite.

Kian, who found two boys that treated him like a person. Who listened to his music without discomfort or hatred, who were like him but were still loved anyways, who let him finally be someone. Kian, who finally saw that he could be loved and wanted despite everything that he was.

Three changeling children, who had each other. Until the swamps took a second child from the Rands. Until Rolan found the original child he’d been replaced with. Until Kian had the people he loved destroyed by people like him. Until suddenly, one early summer day, they didn’t have each other anymore.