You've been awake for a while now. A couple hours. You know because the only thing you can really do right now is lay in bed and read the clock. Every time you try to sit up, your body just hurts and you fall back. If you try to talk, nothing comes out. With some effort, you raise your hand up and touch the thing over your mouth and nose. It's clear. There's a small tube going from it to... ...something you don't even know how to describe, next to your bed. The Something Next To Your Bed, you think, is putting air into The Thing On Your Face and it's helping you breathe. You feel like you would have a pretty hard time breathing if it wasn't there, so...you hope the Something Next To Your Bed understands that you're grateful for its presence, even if you can't actually say it right now.
It's not much, but. You prefer looking at the clock and trying to communicate with the Something Next To Your Bed. Because if you weren't doing those things, you would probably be looking at your chest and seeing... ...
You close your eyes and turn your head. You don't want to go back to sleep. But you also just...don't want to see it right now.
The door opens. You open your eyes back up and look. For some reason, you get your hopes up for a second --
...it's not her.
You don't know why you got your hopes up.
"Good morning, Nessa," the woman says in a very soft voice as she approaches your bed. Something is in her hand, which she puts down on your bed and places a hand on your head. "How are you doing? Did you sleep alright?"
She's asking if you breathed the entire night. With the help of the Thing On Your Face and the Something Next To Your Bed, you did, but. You still didn't really sleep well. You nod anyway. The woman seems to pick up on it. A small grimace crosses her face.
"...did you have a bad dream?" She asked. You don't know how she figured that out, but. You nod again. "...do you want to see mother?" She asks.
You start to sniffle. You nod again. The woman reaches down and wraps her arms around you. You try to stop sniffling. You can't. Before you know it, you're crying. The woman just holds you a little tighter.
"I know. I know, Nessa," she says. "I'm trying so hard to find her. I miss her too."
The woman... ...
Your older sister. Agnis.
She has the same white hair as your mother, and the same purple eyes as you and your mother. But she has a patch over one of her eyes.
She doesn't let go of you until you've stopped crying. She wipes your eyes clean with her sleeve. She very briefly lifts The Thing On Your Face off so she can wipe your nose too.
"Do you want some water?" She asks. You nod. "Do you want to try holding it?" After some hesitation, you nod again. She places the cup into your hand and very gradually guides it to your mouth. Your grip on the cup is very, very tenuous but you try your hardest to keep it in place as you drink out of the cup. Once you're done, Agnis puts The Thing On Your Face back on.
"Do you want to get some rest?" She asked. "Or..." She holds up what she brought in with her. Your eyes widen. "I brought some books I thought you might like."
You arm feels so heavy, but you raise it as fast as you can to point at the books. Agnis smiles and sits down on your bed.
"Okay. Here we are. Chapter 1, an Unexpected Party..."
---
"The mother of our particular hobbit...what is a hobbit? I suppose hobbits need some description nowadays, since they have became rare and shy of the Big People, as they call us. They are (or were) a little people, about half our height, and smaller than the bearded Dwarves. Hobbits have no beards. There is little or no magic about them, except the ordinary everyday sort which helps them to disappear quietly and quickly when large stupid folk like you and me come blundering along, making a noise like elephants which they can hear a mile off." Agnis reaches a hand out and lightly touches your stomach when she says 'large stupid folk'. You think she was expecting a smile when she did that, but you just furrow your brow a bit. Hearing that these 'hobbits' don't have magic doesn't do a great job of endearing you to this story. You want to ask Agnis to tell you a story about witches, the kind mother told you, but...you can't ask her for much of anything right now, so you just keep listening.
---
"Thereupon the twelve dwarves - not Thorin, he was too important, and stayed talking to Gandalf - jumped to their feet and made tall piles of all the things. Off they went, not waiting for trays, balancing columns of plates, each with a bottle on the top, with one hand, while the hobbit ran after them almost squeaking with fight -- please be careful! Please, don't trouble! I can manage! But the dwarves only started to sing. Chip the glas..."
Agnis pauses. She looks at you, as if checking to see if you're still awake. You are. You wonder why she stopped. You want to hear more about....well, mostly just Gandalf. You've decided fairly quickly that you like Gandalf. Agnis looks at the book, then looks at you...she stands up and clears her throat.
Then in a very animated way, she starts moving back and forth and singing.
"Chip the glasses and crack the plates! Blunt the knives and bend the forks! That's what Bilbo Baggins hates- Smash the bottles and burn the corks!
Cut the cloth and tread on the fat! Pour the milk on the pantry floor! Leave the bones on the bedroom mat! Splash the wine on every door!
Dump the crocks in a boiling bawl; Pound them up with thumping pole; And when you've finished, if any are whole, Send them down the hall to roll!
That's what Bilbo Baggins hates! So, carefully! Careully with the plates!"
During all of that, Agnis did things for punctuation such as splashing some of your water on the door and kicking one of her shoes off across the room where it smacked into the wall. She's so animated that by the end of it, you can't help it. It's exceptionally weak, but, you let out a couple of laughs. You see Agnis smile as she notices you smiling as well. She rubs the top of your head a couple times and sits back down to continue reading.
---
"It was very dark, and the wind howled horribly around her, but Dorothy found she was riding quite easily. After the first few whirls around, and one other time when the house tipped badly, she felt as if she were being rocked gently, like a baby in a cradle."
After a while, Agnis stops reading you the story about Bilbo and Gandalf and the dwarves. You were disappointed, but she says she thinks you'll like this story too, about a girl named Dorothy.
"...but soon she saw one of his ears sticking up through the hole, for the strong pressure of the air was keeping him up so that he could not fall. She crept to the hole, caught Toto by the ear and dragged him into the room again; afterwards closing the trap-door so that no more accidents could happen."
You blink a couple times. Your eyes had closed for a few seconds there. It takes you a minute to realize that you had almost fallen asleep. Agnis glances up from the book at you. She seems to have noticed, too.
"Hour after hour passed away, and slowly Dorothy got over her fright; but she felt quite lonely, and the wind shrieked so loudly all about her that she nearly became deaf. At first she had wondered if she would be dashed to pieces when the house fell again; but as the hours passed and nothing terrible happened, she stopped worrying and resolved to wait calmly and see what the future would bring. At last she crawled over the swaying floor to her bed, and lay down upon it; and Toto followed and lay down beside her. In spite of the swaying of the house and the wailing of the wind...." Agnis closed the book. "Dorothy soon closed her eyes and fell fast asleep."
Agnis leans over. She briefly puts her hand on your forehead, then she strokes your head a couple more times. She's definitely noticed the way you're having trouble keeping your eyes open by this point.
"Why don't you get some rest, Nessa," she says. "We'll read some more later." You give her a nod. She leans in and gives you a kiss on the forehead. Then she leaves, closing the door behind her.
As you drift off, you think about the books Agnis read to you. About Bilbo, who hated adventures, but wound up going on an adventure with Gandalf and the dwarves, and of Dorothy, who was away from her aunt and her uncle and her home, but was trying not to be scared.
...
hhhhhhh...
...
hhhhhhh...
You tell yourself....to try to not be scared....and you turn your head to look at your own chest.
You see it. The soft violet glow surrounding it. All of the lights sparkling inside of it.
For a few seconds, you stare at the glass bubble embedded halfway into your chest. You don't know what else to do. So you just stare at it, quietly breathing in and out until your eyes slide shut and you fall asleep.
There was a time that winter was your favorite season of the year. You love the warm sweets, the hot drinks and Christmas is probably your favorite holiday, which is impressive, because it has to compete with Halloween, which by all rights, should be a witch's favorite holiday.
Right now, you're thinking about throwing out all of your rankings and starting over because walking down the street with the snowy wind blowing in your face for the fifth day in a row, you're pretty sure you hate Winter now.
Today's Friday. It's been doing this - "this" being the snow and the cold and the wind blowing right in your face, regardless of which direction you're going - every day since Monday. On your way to school, then on your way to the library for studying, then on your way to your part-time job at the cafe, then on the way home, every day, all week! This is patently unfair! What's worse is after being on your feet for basically your entire shift (turns out people really need coffee when it's cold and dark the entire week), you have to go right back to studying for exams when you get home. Part of you just really wants to curl up with a book or play some Pokemon, but you know you're gonna go right back to your textbooks the second you're done scaling the hill up to your house...which feels about twice as long today. God, your feet hurt so much.
"--WAAAH!"
About halfway up, you catch a patch of ice that was buried under the snow, slip and fall face first into the snow, bumping your arm on the way down. You let out a whine and swipe and kick at the air a bit before you drag yourself back up. You stop to check your backpack and make sure none of your books fell out, before you continue upwards. You let out a breath of relief when you make it to the top of the hill and the one-story cottage that means you've finally, finally made it home and you don't have to go back outside at all until Monday morning. You reach a mittened hand out for the door --
-- only for it to swing open before you can touch it and for a pair of arms to reach out and usher you in.
"Come on, come on," you hear a familiar voice saying as you're pulled inside, the door shutting behind you as you enter into the kitchen/dining room of your house. "I saw you trip on the way up. Are you okay?"
"I -- I'm fine," you say, wincing a little as you move your arm. You take off your hat and scarf, your jacket is being pulled off for you. "There was just some ice under the snow." She lets out a sigh.
"I've tried to clear a path every day this week and it just keeps piling up. Maybe I should throw some salt down..." You take a second to look at her -- your older sister, Agnis. You see her boots are on, her coat is half-on and half hanging off of her body and you realize she was probably all of a couple seconds from running out the door and carrying you the rest of the way once she saw you fall. "How was work?"
"Busy," you breathe out as you finish taking everything off. "First I was working the register, then I was making drinks, then I was giving people their orders...my feet really hurt," you groan as Agnis puts away both of your jackets and then walks over to the stove. First she opens it up and pulls something out. Then, she takes a teapot and pours something into a cup. A couple of scents hit your nose and your eyes widen as she arranges all of it onto a plate.
"Well, I think after helping so many people get their refreshments, you've earned some of your own," Agnis says with a smile as she brings the plate to you. You practically cry at the sight of it - hot apple cinnamon tea and your favorite, marshmallow chocolate chip cookies. You poke at one of them - it's still warm and soft. Did Agnis time her baking so they'd be at the optimal temperature and softness right as you walked in the door? You're pretty sure she did.
"This is...." You stare at the plate for a few seconds. Your voice cracks as you say, "Very, very special to me." You let out a breath. "I'll have them in my room. The sugar will prove to be invaluable fuel for my studying." You start to take the plate, but Agnis keeps a grip on it.
"Come into the living room," she says with a gesture of her head. You quirk an eyebrow up and grab your backpack before you follow her. Your jaw almost falls at what's waiting for you - a roaring fire going in the fireplace and all of the ottomans and spare cushions and pillows from throughout the house all stacked up at the foot of the couch to make...
"Supercouch......" you say with a degree of wistfulness in your voice. "You made supercouch....!"
"Mmmn. I saw all of the snow and thought about how hard you've worked this week and it just felt like the right thing to do," Agnis said. She gestures. "Come on. Radio or TV, you can pick." And you...really want to. You want to go jump on it right now and grab one of those quilts, but you stop yourself.
"I...can't," you say with a little bit of a groan. Agnis looks at you, confused. "I...I have to study. I have exams." Agnis blinks once, then a smile comes over her face. She sets the plate down on a coffee table and places a hand on your head.
"Nessa," she says. "You've been studying and working all week."
"But -- you said I can only keep my job if I make sure my grades don't slip! Plus -- I have to pass my exams if I want to get into a good university, like Manchester or...!"
"That's true, I did say that," she interrupts. "I think maybe I wasn't being very fair to you when I did. You're doing great in your classes and you're doing great at your job and I think I should've been more supportive the first time you asked me if you could get a job. And I'm going to be more supprotive to you going forward." She paused and then quickly added, "Unless it's too hard and you want to quit and spend all of your free time at home with me, because I'll support that too--"
"No, Agnis, I wanna keep doing it," you say, flatly. Agnis looks disappointed, but she chuckles.
"Can't blame me for trying," she says. "Either way....you're working and studying more than hard enough right now, Nessa. What I want you to do tonight is go put on your pajamas, grab a book and your Game Boy, enjoy your tea and your cookies and spend the rest of the night on this couch." You let out a breath and your shoulders slump. You really can't argue with that and frankly, you don't want to anymore. You take your backpack off your shoulder and demonstratively fling it back into the kitchen where it can wait until tomorrow.
"I'm gonna go put on my pajamas," you say tiredly. Agnis nods and smiles.
"And please don't talk about getting into a university yet," she adds, ruffling your hair a bit before she lets you go. "I want to spend as much of the next two years pretending you'll be here forever as I can."
"I can't do anything about that!" you say behind you as you head down the hallway towards your room.
---
Some time later, after all of the tea and cookies have been consumed, you're fully ensconsed in the loving grip of the supercouch, one blanket from your room and one of the big quilts wrapped around you. You're on one side of the couch watching TV, Agnis is on the other, next to the lamp, reading a book. The fire is roaring, you haven't been on your feet in at least an hour.
It's all perfect.
Your eyes open and you only realize you were drifting off when you hear a door close and footsteps. You look up and see your older brother, fully bundled up, with a shovel in his hands. He gives the two of you a wave as he passes by towards the door.
"Ladies. Supercouch."
"Caesar?" Agnis quirks an eyebrow. "It's the dead of night. Where're you going with that shovel?" Caesar glanced at the shovel. Then he glanced at his sister.
"I am. Going outside. With this shovel. To....shovel snow," he said. He patted the shovel on his hands a couple times. "So I can. Clear a path. For my two sisters. To safely enter and exit the house. Because I.....love them?" He said, a lack of confidence entering his tone at the end that gets a stare from both of you. Agnis in particularly really looks like she knows she should put a stop to whatever is about to transpire.....but that would require her to get up.
"Just don't do anything that'll make me get off of this couch to come bail you out," she says with a weary sigh.
"That strikes me as reasonable." Knowing he wasn't getting any better than that, Caesar quickly made himself scarce. Agnis went back to her book. You grab the remote and turn off the TV, since you were just nodding off watching it anyway. After a moment or two, Agnis turns on the radio to fill the silence. You think about just laying back right there and falling asleep. Instead, you inchworm your way across the couch (making sure not to unravel any of the blankets carefully wrapped around your person in the process) and settle down next to Agnis. She doesn't look as she pulls an arm up and curls it around you. With her other hand, she adjusts the position of her book so both of you can read it and for a while, you do just that. You're pretty sure she's still a faster reader than you, since she's turning the pages much more slowly than when she was reading by herself. If you were more awake, you'd find the energy to be a little annoyed about that.
But after a while, you feel yourself nodding off again. This time, you make no effort to delay it. You slump against Agnis, something she welcomes by giving you a kiss on the forehead.
"Good night, Nessa," she says softly, stroking your head as it falls to rest on her lap.
And less than a moment later, you've fallen asleep.
[Based off of this thread from Edge of Reverie (locked)]
You hear the CRACK before you feel it.
It vaguely occurs to you, somewhere in the back of your head, that this is the first penalty you'll have ever taken during one of the tasks....
Well. Had to happen sometime, you suppose.
You let out a wordless cry as you fall backwards, as if thrown. You're gasping for air before you hit the ground. You try to move your hands - they don't listen. You can feel your Spark erratically jumping from your fingertips as you weakly flop on the ground like some kind of beached fish. Somewhere in the back of your mind, a few quick factoids come together: 1) You've just been shot in the chest. 2) You can still feel your extremities. 3) You can still feel your Spark. Given the reality of the first one, the latter two feel like pretty close to the best case scenario.
Any optimism that set of factoids might've given you quickly vanishes when you raise your head up enough to look at your chest and you see it. Embedded in your chest. A purple gem that's now at least half-shattered.
"Oh go -- oh god -- oh god. Aki-- Akira. Akira--"
Your voice comes out weak and rushed. Eventually, somebody stumbles to your side, a teenager, around the same age as you. He doesn't look like he's in great condition either from the way his gait is clearly affected by something.
"Hey -- hey! Don't move, I-- someone somewhere has to. . .we'll get your help!"
The urgency and pain in his voice doesn't fully sink in for you. Your eyes are locked on your own chest. You just keep muttering that it's broken while he tells you to breathe and does the best approximation of first aid he can with what supplies they have in the room.
Thankfully, the door opens soon and he's helping carry you out (something you'll only appreciate more when you learn how badly his leg was injured, seriously), aiming to get you both to the clinic ASAP.
"No! Give her here---!"
"Nessa!"
More voices interrupts. You instantly turn your head towards one. You feel yourself being passed from one set of hands to another. Your vision is blurry at this point, but you see blue skin and blue hair and you recognize both of them.
"M -- Master," you whimper out. "Tsumugi. It...it broke."
You're pretty sure you can feel your master's hands shaking as they hold onto you and you know you can hear the shaking in her voice as she speaks.
"Hold onto me. Hold onto me, we are going to lay you down now, lapochka," she says as she very gradually starts to guide you towards the ground. You reach out and grab onto any part of her you can hold. Your grip fluctuates from too weak to hold on to gripping her like a vice. This isn't good. Your Spark is all over the place right now. You can't regulate it with your Heart in this state. You need to fix it. You need --
"I need -- the pieces. Please. Y-you have to...."
"I'm going to get them all!" Tsumugi suddenly volunteers. "I'll scour all of Hyrule if I need to get them all!" She says, a mix of panic and determination in her face as she goes to gather all of the shattered gem shards that had, until a moment ago, resided firmly in your chest. Any other time, that Hyrule comment would've gotten a smirk and an eyeroll out of you.
"I need the pieces," You repeat weakly, the only thing you can think of right now. "I need all of them...."
"I know, lapochka," your master says as she finishes setting you on the ground. "I know. I know. Lay down, now, shhh. Shhh...." You gulp down a breath and try to listen to her, but by this point, the shock is starting to fade in favor of two things: panic and pain. Lots and lots of the latter.
"Master, it hurts....!" You whimper as you break down into tears. You see a blurry shape (Tsumugi again?) moving around your master as she holds you. It (she?) hands something to Sprezzatura.
"I know. I know," she says, trying to comfort you as she inspects what she was handed. "You call me Sprezzatura, mm?" She says, giving you her hand and letting you squeeze it as her other hand looks over what you're now pretty sure are some of the shards of your Heart. "It won't hurt for long. I have you," she assures you.
You're in too much pain to even move, but you still manage to give a small shake of your head at her request. You can't call her by her name. You can't. You don't want to.
"Y....you're my master."
It's that simple.
"Then you call me Ms. Vaux," she says without missing a beat. She's working with two hands to handle all of the shards Tsumugi has given her, but one of her hands is still gripping yours. It won't occur to you until later that one of the three was a conjured Magic Hand. If you had more wherewithal, you might object to the request.
"...m....Ms. Vaux."
"There you are. there you are," she says softly. "Now just like that. We're going to fix you, understand? I am very good at this. I know Mending."
She lets out a low, almost urgent laugh as her hands start to work, putting the shards into place and magically weaving them back together. A few shards in, you suck in a few slightly stronger breaths. Pain wracks you for a few seconds then slowly, slowly, starts to dull as your Spark slowly starts to regulate itself within your body. The process saps whatever ability you had remaining to maintain consciousness. Somewhere in your mind, you dare to think that the worst has passed. They got all of the pieces. They must have. Tsumugi and Akira wouldn't have let any of them slip away and Ms. Vaux would be the first person you would trust to put it back together.
If you had more energy, you would've objected to calling her that. There's a part of you that you just can't shake (and don't want to shake) that wants to just do nothing but be by her side.
Even as you fall asleep, you still just want to call her your master.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
01
hhhhhhh...
...
hhhhhhh...
...
hhhhhhh...
You've been awake for a while now. A couple hours. You know because the only thing you can really do right now is lay in bed and read the clock. Every time you try to sit up, your body just hurts and you fall back. If you try to talk, nothing comes out. With some effort, you raise your hand up and touch the thing over your mouth and nose. It's clear. There's a small tube going from it to... ...something you don't even know how to describe, next to your bed. The Something Next To Your Bed, you think, is putting air into The Thing On Your Face and it's helping you breathe. You feel like you would have a pretty hard time breathing if it wasn't there, so...you hope the Something Next To Your Bed understands that you're grateful for its presence, even if you can't actually say it right now.
It's not much, but. You prefer looking at the clock and trying to communicate with the Something Next To Your Bed. Because if you weren't doing those things, you would probably be looking at your chest and seeing... ...
You close your eyes and turn your head. You don't want to go back to sleep. But you also just...don't want to see it right now.
The door opens. You open your eyes back up and look. For some reason, you get your hopes up for a second --
...it's not her.
You don't know why you got your hopes up.
"Good morning, Nessa," the woman says in a very soft voice as she approaches your bed. Something is in her hand, which she puts down on your bed and places a hand on your head. "How are you doing? Did you sleep alright?"
She's asking if you breathed the entire night. With the help of the Thing On Your Face and the Something Next To Your Bed, you did, but. You still didn't really sleep well. You nod anyway. The woman seems to pick up on it. A small grimace crosses her face.
"...did you have a bad dream?" She asked. You don't know how she figured that out, but. You nod again. "...do you want to see mother?" She asks.
You start to sniffle. You nod again. The woman reaches down and wraps her arms around you. You try to stop sniffling. You can't. Before you know it, you're crying. The woman just holds you a little tighter.
"I know. I know, Nessa," she says. "I'm trying so hard to find her. I miss her too."
The woman... ...
Your older sister. Agnis.
She has the same white hair as your mother, and the same purple eyes as you and your mother. But she has a patch over one of her eyes.
She doesn't let go of you until you've stopped crying. She wipes your eyes clean with her sleeve. She very briefly lifts The Thing On Your Face off so she can wipe your nose too.
"Do you want some water?" She asks. You nod. "Do you want to try holding it?" After some hesitation, you nod again. She places the cup into your hand and very gradually guides it to your mouth. Your grip on the cup is very, very tenuous but you try your hardest to keep it in place as you drink out of the cup. Once you're done, Agnis puts The Thing On Your Face back on.
"Do you want to get some rest?" She asked. "Or..." She holds up what she brought in with her. Your eyes widen. "I brought some books I thought you might like."
You arm feels so heavy, but you raise it as fast as you can to point at the books. Agnis smiles and sits down on your bed.
"Okay. Here we are. Chapter 1, an Unexpected Party..."
---
"The mother of our particular hobbit...what is a hobbit? I suppose hobbits need some description nowadays, since they have became rare and shy of the Big People, as they call us. They are (or were) a little people, about half our height, and smaller than the bearded Dwarves. Hobbits have no beards. There is little or no magic about them, except the ordinary everyday sort which helps them to disappear quietly and quickly when large stupid folk like you and me come blundering along, making a noise like elephants which they can hear a mile off." Agnis reaches a hand out and lightly touches your stomach when she says 'large stupid folk'. You think she was expecting a smile when she did that, but you just furrow your brow a bit. Hearing that these 'hobbits' don't have magic doesn't do a great job of endearing you to this story. You want to ask Agnis to tell you a story about witches, the kind mother told you, but...you can't ask her for much of anything right now, so you just keep listening.
---
"Thereupon the twelve dwarves - not Thorin, he was too important, and stayed talking to Gandalf - jumped to their feet and made tall piles of all the things. Off they went, not waiting for trays, balancing columns of plates, each with a bottle on the top, with one hand, while the hobbit ran after them almost squeaking with fight -- please be careful! Please, don't trouble! I can manage! But the dwarves only started to sing. Chip the glas..."
Agnis pauses. She looks at you, as if checking to see if you're still awake. You are. You wonder why she stopped. You want to hear more about....well, mostly just Gandalf. You've decided fairly quickly that you like Gandalf. Agnis looks at the book, then looks at you...she stands up and clears her throat.
Then in a very animated way, she starts moving back and forth and singing.
"Chip the glasses and crack the plates!
Blunt the knives and bend the forks!
That's what Bilbo Baggins hates-
Smash the bottles and burn the corks!
Cut the cloth and tread on the fat!
Pour the milk on the pantry floor!
Leave the bones on the bedroom mat!
Splash the wine on every door!
Dump the crocks in a boiling bawl;
Pound them up with thumping pole;
And when you've finished, if any are whole,
Send them down the hall to roll!
That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!
So, carefully! Careully with the plates!"
During all of that, Agnis did things for punctuation such as splashing some of your water on the door and kicking one of her shoes off across the room where it smacked into the wall. She's so animated that by the end of it, you can't help it. It's exceptionally weak, but, you let out a couple of laughs. You see Agnis smile as she notices you smiling as well. She rubs the top of your head a couple times and sits back down to continue reading.
---
"It was very dark, and the wind howled horribly around her, but Dorothy found she was riding quite easily. After the first few whirls around, and one other time when the house tipped badly, she felt as if she were being rocked gently, like a baby in a cradle."
After a while, Agnis stops reading you the story about Bilbo and Gandalf and the dwarves. You were disappointed, but she says she thinks you'll like this story too, about a girl named Dorothy.
"...but soon she saw one of his ears sticking up through the hole, for the strong pressure of the air was keeping him up so that he could not fall. She crept to the hole, caught Toto by the ear and dragged him into the room again; afterwards closing the trap-door so that no more accidents could happen."
You blink a couple times. Your eyes had closed for a few seconds there. It takes you a minute to realize that you had almost fallen asleep. Agnis glances up from the book at you. She seems to have noticed, too.
"Hour after hour passed away, and slowly Dorothy got over her fright; but she felt quite lonely, and the wind shrieked so loudly all about her that she nearly became deaf. At first she had wondered if she would be dashed to pieces when the house fell again; but as the hours passed and nothing terrible happened, she stopped worrying and resolved to wait calmly and see what the future would bring. At last she crawled over the swaying floor to her bed, and lay down upon it; and Toto followed and lay down beside her. In spite of the swaying of the house and the wailing of the wind...." Agnis closed the book. "Dorothy soon closed her eyes and fell fast asleep."
Agnis leans over. She briefly puts her hand on your forehead, then she strokes your head a couple more times. She's definitely noticed the way you're having trouble keeping your eyes open by this point.
"Why don't you get some rest, Nessa," she says. "We'll read some more later." You give her a nod. She leans in and gives you a kiss on the forehead. Then she leaves, closing the door behind her.
As you drift off, you think about the books Agnis read to you. About Bilbo, who hated adventures, but wound up going on an adventure with Gandalf and the dwarves, and of Dorothy, who was away from her aunt and her uncle and her home, but was trying not to be scared.
...
hhhhhhh...
...
hhhhhhh...
You tell yourself....to try to not be scared....and you turn your head to look at your own chest.
You see it. The soft violet glow surrounding it. All of the lights sparkling inside of it.
For a few seconds, you stare at the glass bubble embedded halfway into your chest. You don't know what else to do. So you just stare at it, quietly breathing in and out until your eyes slide shut and you fall asleep.
02
Right now, you're thinking about throwing out all of your rankings and starting over because walking down the street with the snowy wind blowing in your face for the fifth day in a row, you're pretty sure you hate Winter now.
Today's Friday. It's been doing this - "this" being the snow and the cold and the wind blowing right in your face, regardless of which direction you're going - every day since Monday. On your way to school, then on your way to the library for studying, then on your way to your part-time job at the cafe, then on the way home, every day, all week! This is patently unfair! What's worse is after being on your feet for basically your entire shift (turns out people really need coffee when it's cold and dark the entire week), you have to go right back to studying for exams when you get home. Part of you just really wants to curl up with a book or play some Pokemon, but you know you're gonna go right back to your textbooks the second you're done scaling the hill up to your house...which feels about twice as long today. God, your feet hurt so much.
"--WAAAH!"
About halfway up, you catch a patch of ice that was buried under the snow, slip and fall face first into the snow, bumping your arm on the way down. You let out a whine and swipe and kick at the air a bit before you drag yourself back up. You stop to check your backpack and make sure none of your books fell out, before you continue upwards. You let out a breath of relief when you make it to the top of the hill and the one-story cottage that means you've finally, finally made it home and you don't have to go back outside at all until Monday morning. You reach a mittened hand out for the door --
-- only for it to swing open before you can touch it and for a pair of arms to reach out and usher you in.
"Come on, come on," you hear a familiar voice saying as you're pulled inside, the door shutting behind you as you enter into the kitchen/dining room of your house. "I saw you trip on the way up. Are you okay?"
"I -- I'm fine," you say, wincing a little as you move your arm. You take off your hat and scarf, your jacket is being pulled off for you. "There was just some ice under the snow." She lets out a sigh.
"I've tried to clear a path every day this week and it just keeps piling up. Maybe I should throw some salt down..." You take a second to look at her -- your older sister, Agnis. You see her boots are on, her coat is half-on and half hanging off of her body and you realize she was probably all of a couple seconds from running out the door and carrying you the rest of the way once she saw you fall. "How was work?"
"Busy," you breathe out as you finish taking everything off. "First I was working the register, then I was making drinks, then I was giving people their orders...my feet really hurt," you groan as Agnis puts away both of your jackets and then walks over to the stove. First she opens it up and pulls something out. Then, she takes a teapot and pours something into a cup. A couple of scents hit your nose and your eyes widen as she arranges all of it onto a plate.
"Well, I think after helping so many people get their refreshments, you've earned some of your own," Agnis says with a smile as she brings the plate to you. You practically cry at the sight of it - hot apple cinnamon tea and your favorite, marshmallow chocolate chip cookies. You poke at one of them - it's still warm and soft. Did Agnis time her baking so they'd be at the optimal temperature and softness right as you walked in the door? You're pretty sure she did.
"This is...." You stare at the plate for a few seconds. Your voice cracks as you say, "Very, very special to me." You let out a breath. "I'll have them in my room. The sugar will prove to be invaluable fuel for my studying." You start to take the plate, but Agnis keeps a grip on it.
"Come into the living room," she says with a gesture of her head. You quirk an eyebrow up and grab your backpack before you follow her. Your jaw almost falls at what's waiting for you - a roaring fire going in the fireplace and all of the ottomans and spare cushions and pillows from throughout the house all stacked up at the foot of the couch to make...
"Supercouch......" you say with a degree of wistfulness in your voice. "You made supercouch....!"
"Mmmn. I saw all of the snow and thought about how hard you've worked this week and it just felt like the right thing to do," Agnis said. She gestures. "Come on. Radio or TV, you can pick." And you...really want to. You want to go jump on it right now and grab one of those quilts, but you stop yourself.
"I...can't," you say with a little bit of a groan. Agnis looks at you, confused. "I...I have to study. I have exams." Agnis blinks once, then a smile comes over her face. She sets the plate down on a coffee table and places a hand on your head.
"Nessa," she says. "You've been studying and working all week."
"But -- you said I can only keep my job if I make sure my grades don't slip! Plus -- I have to pass my exams if I want to get into a good university, like Manchester or...!"
"That's true, I did say that," she interrupts. "I think maybe I wasn't being very fair to you when I did. You're doing great in your classes and you're doing great at your job and I think I should've been more supportive the first time you asked me if you could get a job. And I'm going to be more supprotive to you going forward." She paused and then quickly added, "Unless it's too hard and you want to quit and spend all of your free time at home with me, because I'll support that too--"
"No, Agnis, I wanna keep doing it," you say, flatly. Agnis looks disappointed, but she chuckles.
"Can't blame me for trying," she says. "Either way....you're working and studying more than hard enough right now, Nessa. What I want you to do tonight is go put on your pajamas, grab a book and your Game Boy, enjoy your tea and your cookies and spend the rest of the night on this couch." You let out a breath and your shoulders slump. You really can't argue with that and frankly, you don't want to anymore. You take your backpack off your shoulder and demonstratively fling it back into the kitchen where it can wait until tomorrow.
"I'm gonna go put on my pajamas," you say tiredly. Agnis nods and smiles.
"And please don't talk about getting into a university yet," she adds, ruffling your hair a bit before she lets you go. "I want to spend as much of the next two years pretending you'll be here forever as I can."
"I can't do anything about that!" you say behind you as you head down the hallway towards your room.
---
Some time later, after all of the tea and cookies have been consumed, you're fully ensconsed in the loving grip of the supercouch, one blanket from your room and one of the big quilts wrapped around you. You're on one side of the couch watching TV, Agnis is on the other, next to the lamp, reading a book. The fire is roaring, you haven't been on your feet in at least an hour.
It's all perfect.
Your eyes open and you only realize you were drifting off when you hear a door close and footsteps. You look up and see your older brother, fully bundled up, with a shovel in his hands. He gives the two of you a wave as he passes by towards the door.
"Ladies. Supercouch."
"Caesar?" Agnis quirks an eyebrow. "It's the dead of night. Where're you going with that shovel?" Caesar glanced at the shovel. Then he glanced at his sister.
"I am. Going outside. With this shovel. To....shovel snow," he said. He patted the shovel on his hands a couple times. "So I can. Clear a path. For my two sisters. To safely enter and exit the house. Because I.....love them?" He said, a lack of confidence entering his tone at the end that gets a stare from both of you. Agnis in particularly really looks like she knows she should put a stop to whatever is about to transpire.....but that would require her to get up.
"Just don't do anything that'll make me get off of this couch to come bail you out," she says with a weary sigh.
"That strikes me as reasonable." Knowing he wasn't getting any better than that, Caesar quickly made himself scarce. Agnis went back to her book. You grab the remote and turn off the TV, since you were just nodding off watching it anyway. After a moment or two, Agnis turns on the radio to fill the silence. You think about just laying back right there and falling asleep. Instead, you inchworm your way across the couch (making sure not to unravel any of the blankets carefully wrapped around your person in the process) and settle down next to Agnis. She doesn't look as she pulls an arm up and curls it around you. With her other hand, she adjusts the position of her book so both of you can read it and for a while, you do just that. You're pretty sure she's still a faster reader than you, since she's turning the pages much more slowly than when she was reading by herself. If you were more awake, you'd find the energy to be a little annoyed about that.
But after a while, you feel yourself nodding off again. This time, you make no effort to delay it. You slump against Agnis, something she welcomes by giving you a kiss on the forehead.
"Good night, Nessa," she says softly, stroking your head as it falls to rest on her lap.
And less than a moment later, you've fallen asleep.
03
You hear the CRACK before you feel it.
It vaguely occurs to you, somewhere in the back of your head, that this is the first penalty you'll have ever taken during one of the tasks....
Well. Had to happen sometime, you suppose.
You let out a wordless cry as you fall backwards, as if thrown. You're gasping for air before you hit the ground. You try to move your hands - they don't listen. You can feel your Spark erratically jumping from your fingertips as you weakly flop on the ground like some kind of beached fish. Somewhere in the back of your mind, a few quick factoids come together: 1) You've just been shot in the chest. 2) You can still feel your extremities. 3) You can still feel your Spark. Given the reality of the first one, the latter two feel like pretty close to the best case scenario.
Any optimism that set of factoids might've given you quickly vanishes when you raise your head up enough to look at your chest and you see it. Embedded in your chest. A purple gem that's now at least half-shattered.
"Oh go -- oh god -- oh god. Aki-- Akira. Akira--"
Your voice comes out weak and rushed. Eventually, somebody stumbles to your side, a teenager, around the same age as you. He doesn't look like he's in great condition either from the way his gait is clearly affected by something.
"Hey -- hey! Don't move, I-- someone somewhere has to. . .we'll get your help!"
The urgency and pain in his voice doesn't fully sink in for you. Your eyes are locked on your own chest. You just keep muttering that it's broken while he tells you to breathe and does the best approximation of first aid he can with what supplies they have in the room.
Thankfully, the door opens soon and he's helping carry you out (something you'll only appreciate more when you learn how badly his leg was injured, seriously), aiming to get you both to the clinic ASAP.
"No! Give her here---!"
"Nessa!"
More voices interrupts. You instantly turn your head towards one. You feel yourself being passed from one set of hands to another. Your vision is blurry at this point, but you see blue skin and blue hair and you recognize both of them.
"M -- Master," you whimper out. "Tsumugi. It...it broke."
You're pretty sure you can feel your master's hands shaking as they hold onto you and you know you can hear the shaking in her voice as she speaks.
"Hold onto me. Hold onto me, we are going to lay you down now, lapochka," she says as she very gradually starts to guide you towards the ground. You reach out and grab onto any part of her you can hold. Your grip fluctuates from too weak to hold on to gripping her like a vice. This isn't good. Your Spark is all over the place right now. You can't regulate it with your Heart in this state. You need to fix it. You need --
"I need -- the pieces. Please. Y-you have to...."
"I'm going to get them all!" Tsumugi suddenly volunteers. "I'll scour all of Hyrule if I need to get them all!" She says, a mix of panic and determination in her face as she goes to gather all of the shattered gem shards that had, until a moment ago, resided firmly in your chest. Any other time, that Hyrule comment would've gotten a smirk and an eyeroll out of you.
"I need the pieces," You repeat weakly, the only thing you can think of right now. "I need all of them...."
"I know, lapochka," your master says as she finishes setting you on the ground. "I know. I know. Lay down, now, shhh. Shhh...." You gulp down a breath and try to listen to her, but by this point, the shock is starting to fade in favor of two things: panic and pain. Lots and lots of the latter.
"Master, it hurts....!" You whimper as you break down into tears. You see a blurry shape (Tsumugi again?) moving around your master as she holds you. It (she?) hands something to Sprezzatura.
"I know. I know," she says, trying to comfort you as she inspects what she was handed. "You call me Sprezzatura, mm?" She says, giving you her hand and letting you squeeze it as her other hand looks over what you're now pretty sure are some of the shards of your Heart. "It won't hurt for long. I have you," she assures you.
You're in too much pain to even move, but you still manage to give a small shake of your head at her request. You can't call her by her name. You can't. You don't want to.
"Y....you're my master."
It's that simple.
"Then you call me Ms. Vaux," she says without missing a beat. She's working with two hands to handle all of the shards Tsumugi has given her, but one of her hands is still gripping yours. It won't occur to you until later that one of the three was a conjured Magic Hand. If you had more wherewithal, you might object to the request.
"...m....Ms. Vaux."
"There you are. there you are," she says softly. "Now just like that. We're going to fix you, understand? I am very good at this. I know Mending."
She lets out a low, almost urgent laugh as her hands start to work, putting the shards into place and magically weaving them back together. A few shards in, you suck in a few slightly stronger breaths. Pain wracks you for a few seconds then slowly, slowly, starts to dull as your Spark slowly starts to regulate itself within your body. The process saps whatever ability you had remaining to maintain consciousness. Somewhere in your mind, you dare to think that the worst has passed. They got all of the pieces. They must have. Tsumugi and Akira wouldn't have let any of them slip away and Ms. Vaux would be the first person you would trust to put it back together.
If you had more energy, you would've objected to calling her that. There's a part of you that you just can't shake (and don't want to shake) that wants to just do nothing but be by her side.
Even as you fall asleep, you still just want to call her your master.