but there was a star dancing

[harborshore]

You, oh Mik. Happy Birthday. I hope it was every bit as great as you deserve, darling girl, because you deserve all the good things ever. I'm stupidly sleepy after yesterday's ordeal, but I couldn't let today go by without saying anything.

See, you were one of the first people I found, on here. I wrote you a dumb little ficlet and you friended me and we kept talking and talking. You've sent me letters that never fail to arrive exactly at the opportune moment, as my favorite pirate captain would put it, and you've written me stories, and you--Anne of Green Gables would call it kindred spirits, you know? Which is remarkable and I feel so lucky that I found you. Your stories, the way you think, the way you are. So much love.

Due to Recent Events, the story I'm writing for you isn't quite finished, but it includes things I think you will like, and I wish it was done so I could give it to you properly. Instead, well.




Z was running. Stupid villagers, stupid, awful villagers: they'd never given a damn about her until now, and she wasn't going to get there in time to save him because she had to beat a fucking mob to the castle and they'd taken away her horse. She'd only gotten out of the room they'd locked her in because Charlotte had dragged herself out of bed, coughing the whole way, and picked the lock on the door.

Slipping and falling, she caught herself with her hands and swore when she felt her palms start to bleed from the gravel. Shit, not now, she was almost there. Brushing the worst off, she kept going.

The torches gleamed through the trees.

She slowed down as she got close, walking as quietly as she could. Thank fuck they'd spent so many hours in these woods; she knew how to walk without breaking twigs, without--and then she saw them.
John and the Beast, high up on the wall of the castle.

"No," Z whispered, "No, no, I won't let you."

She had to be quiet, but she sneaked through the crowd, hood pulled up and slouching low. She didn't know what she could do, only that she had to get close enough to--anything. Anything at all to get him down from there, away from the fight, away from the fucking mayor's son who thought he could have anything and anyone he wanted. Well, he couldn't have her, and Z wasn't going to give him the Beast either. He was hers.

It went too fast; she didn't have time to get any closer than next to the wall and looking up before they were falling. Locked in a strange embrace, they looked almost sweet, but Z closed her eyes and wished as hard as she had ever wished for anything that they'd land with John hitting the ground first. She wasn't ashamed of that thought, even though she probably should have been.

And then she opened her eyes, and the Beast was staring at her. John wasn't moving and the mob was being herded away by the carriage and a whole host of dining room chairs and what looked like the entire cutlery cabinet, but the Beast was very still too, just looking and looking at her and trying to say something. She blinked and then she was next to him, holding his hand, ignoring the way all his sharp edges were cutting into her skin.

"Don't talk," she said, "Please don't talk."

"I have--" he broke off, coughing. There was blood at the corner of his mouth.

"I can't," she said, "You can't, you have to be okay."

He shook his head minutely, and for a second Z thought she heard chimes in the air. His eyes closed and she knew she was crying.

"I, I love you," she said, bending down and kissing him as softly as she could through her tears. "I love you." The chimes grew louder and there was a weird light, little bursts of it all in the air around them and growing brighter. Z closed her eyes against the glare and then it felt like the world turned upside down and she was tossed away from the Beast, away from--

She blinked against the spots she was seeing and then stared. There was a boy on the ground, tall and thin with curly hair and wearing the dumbest vest she'd ever seen. But he was--he smiled at her, and then she was sure.

"You're the Beast," she said.

He nodded. "Sorry," he said, smiling helplessly at her from where he was lying on the ground.

Still pale, she thought, he's still pale."You're all--what happened to you?"

He looked embarrassed. "I, um. I was kind of an asshole? A lot? And then there was a curse, and then--you know, you." His voice was wispy, like every word caused him a great effort to get out.

"That sounds like the short version," she said, and tried smiling back at him even though she still felt like she was going to shake apart if anything else happened.

He bit his lip. "You want the long version?"

"Maybe," she said.

He worked himself into a seated position, looking pleased. "Everyone always says my stories are too long, but, like, I'll do better for you, I promise."

"You'd better," she said, thinking, I saved your life, and then she couldn't stop herself when he started to get up. "Are you sure you should be doing that, I mean, you did just fall like that, you fell."

"It's okay," he said, but she helped him up anyway, and was proven right by the way his knees buckled.

"Come on," she said, tucking herself against his side and bracing him. "Let's go inside and you can lie down and, you know, I think I'll tell you some stories for a while instead until you can breathe well enough to talk."

She looked up at the sky as they went inside, and the dark, dark night blue looked warm tonight, a giant blanket over the castle. It will be morning soon, Z thought, and held on a little tighter, smiling at the sky and at him and the castle that was full of people now, full of people and wonderful things, and she thought she'd never be scared again.

Comments

[redbrickrose.livejournal.com]

This is just delightful. ♥

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

Thank you! ♥