There are two sides to the kingdom of Havana—the side of dark magic, and the side of light magic. As unofficial princess of Havana, Ally's destiny to magic is to that of the light side. When she finds the courage to delve into the dark, will she be able to handle the percussions that come with it? How about the troll Austin, who's fallen for the mystic way she can strum a piano?
Chapter One
Primus
Austin did not always enjoy being born into the world as the son of trolls.
Many disadvantages came with being a species normally associated with grotesque, ugly personifications. For example, he always woke in the morning with spotty, lumpy, slimy skin that soaked through his night linens. He lived in a small ovular shack with a clan of possibly seven members—sometimes eight when his best friend Dez elbowed his way into a seat at the table during mealtime. Austin also loathed that his nose was just so ugly. He's seen other men's noses, and those who don't have troll in their blood always had perfect thinly defined noses with ambiguous bridges. The only thing Austin liked about his nose was that he could balance a small thumb of a tomato on it.
The appearance of being a troll was not the only deterrent to his life plans. Austin enjoyed visiting the nearby witch kingdom of Havana about 30 minutes from the edge of the forest where the clans of trolls lived. Havana was inhabited by thousands and thousands of magic-wielding beings who could disintegrate him in the flick of a wand. Other than that horrible fate he could meet, trolls were also largely discriminated amongst the witch populace. No one liked trolls. Trolls were ugly, barbaric, unethical, stubborn, clumsy, and destructive in their eyes.
Currently Austin walked among the witches through the networking cobblestone paths of the lower Havana district past the gate. From here he could see the buildings rise upwards like a mountain, and the paths all winded up that way to the central square and right across the lawn, the brilliant White Castle. Havana's royal castle from this angle looked like the topper to a wedding cake.
Alas, today his destination was not the castle where the princesses lay, but the less than glamorous Victorian library that wore the same speckled grey goblin statues found at the entrance to the White Castle. Nearby and giddily scoping the standing-shack vendors was Dez, mindlessly bartering with merchants with an empty wallet.
"Check out what I got Austin!" Dez said, sauntering up to him with a trinket dangling between his grubby fingers.
"It's a dream catcher." Austin said, not even sparing a glance to what he procured.
"Not just any dream catcher!" Dez cried. "It's a magic dream catcher! A wand was cast on it and everything!"
"It's made of yarn and twigs." Austin nudged his shoulder. "Did you forget the real reason why we're here? Come on!" The two climbed the steps of the brown, heavily windowed building, Dez falling a few steps behind just so he could thoroughly inspect if his new dream catcher was phony or not. Austin was met by a rush of cool air and the crisp scent of paper bindings and feather ink. The library shelves stacked up 3 stories tall, and the ceiling had a glass piece of artwork set into the center.
Austin went for the songbooks on the left side of the area. He already knew what he wanted, but he didn't have any time to take it with him last time he was here. He flipped the pages in his face, savoring the tantalizing whiff of fresh paper. He brought it up to the desk where the librarian waited. This was one of the few times he was okay with his nose—the librarian's nose was as long and pointy as a crow's beak, and it had a mole on the left nostril.
"I'll be checking out this one please!" He said, barely able to contain the excitement in his voice.
The librarian peered down at him past her nose. "No trolls are allowed to check out books in this library."
"What!? Why?"
"You must be a citizen to have access to our books."
"But I live right outside the walls!" He protested.
"It does not matter. Trolls are not allowed to take anything out." She snatched the book from his fingers. "And a good thing, too. I hate when slime gets all over my nice books." She sent a disgusted look in his direction before turning away to another part of the desk. Austin groaned and stomped over to Dez.
"Can you believe this? Just because I'm a troll she won't let me use the books! What a crappy system!"
Dez was sitting and petting the feathers to his dream catcher as if they were one of those lap-sitting felines. "It's just a book," he said.
"It's not just any book!" Austin's lips pursed to the side. He jerked one of the doors to the outside open—only to sidestep in surprise as a girl no taller than his shoulder passed like a breeze. He only caught a second of her face, just two fixated dark eyes and long, curly brunette hair that faded into a golden color and swept in her wake as soft as dandelion seeds. He watched the back of her velvet red cloak for a moment as she strode through the shelves and disappeared deep into the back.
Austin blinked and shook his head. Was that an angel that just passed? He told himself no and hurried outside.
Dez didn't notice that Austin had left until a thin paperbound book went thwak at the back of his head and slid down his back. "Hey!" he shouted responsively upwards.
One of the assistants was on a ladder up high against the shelves and shushed him. Her pin spelt Trish with a frowny face next to it. "Just take it, doof!" She hissed down at him.
Dez took the flimsy book and glanced at the cover. He couldn't read the words, but he recognized the musical instrument on the front and assumed it was a songbook like the one Austin wanted. "What do I do with it?" He whispered.
"Give it to your friend! And don't come back!" She beckoned out the door. "Make haste or I'll turn you into a toad!"
He wasn't sure whether to thank her or run, so he did both!
Ally was running. The catacombs under the library were familiar, but they were always so dark and creepy and she hated going through this way by torchlight. She nearly missed the turn and skidded her foot to a stop, then turned and took the path. The torch lit cobwebs and rows of unmarked skeleton keys. A shock of cold ran through her as she continued down the narrow corridor. Finally she reached the door, and with a sigh she pushed it open into the comforting lighting of her mother's 'lair', as she calls it.
"Mom! Mom!" Ally excitedly skipped to the cauldron where her mother Penny stood on the opposite side, stirring away and cutting things as she went. The wooden shelves behind her were full of jars of plenty of oddities, from frog legs to salamander eyes and butterfly wings. Ally pulled a book from her velvet red cloak. "Look at the book I found!"
Penny squinted in the dim lighting. "Compellations of Different Days by Kevin Kopelow. Alright, I give up. What's so special about this book?"
"It's a song book!" Ally said. Her smile contrasted off her dark eyes. "But some of the songs also double as incantations, and some involve raising trees or capturing hearts or shooting flames from hell, but what I really love is that—"
"Honey, if you want to dabble in black magic, you shouldn't have to rely on a book that contains subtle spells!" Penny inserted in between her babbling.
Ally's expression settled into a grim frown, her lips in a straight line. "You know I can't do that." Her shoulders fell. "I'm…I'm influential, I'm notorious! I can't just—just—no, I can't." She bit her lip and ducked her head down, the hood to her cloak covering her eyes. "I'm Havana's…"
"…Princess?" Penny finished. "It's not an official title, sweetie. You're only held to the bar because your aunt gave you the title."
"There are certain responsibilities that I have, certain lifestyles that I have to live up to…I can't tarnish my reputation."
"That doesn't mean you can't be your own person!" Penny said, setting her wooden spoon down. "You are a witch! You can be whatever the hell kind of witch you want to be! You can be affluent in white magic or black magic, it doesn't matter! You are Ally! No one else is you!"
Ally sighed. "It's easier for you, mom." She muttered. "You can do all the black magic you want down here where no one can see you. I can't do that, not in the castle…black magic is forbidden."
"I find that ridiculous." Penny said, whipping her spoon around. "What's the point in being able to use magic if you're limited to the type? Ally, as your mother, I give you the permission to use whatever kind of magic you want, princess or not. Alright?"
"Right…" Ally said, looking up hopefully. She stared into the cauldron, imagining her powerful aunt's face in the ripples. You cannot be a user of black magic within the white faction of Havana! Her aunt's voice echoed. No princess of the kingdom will represent heathens of destruction! The next time I see you casting blood spells, I'll suck all the blood OUT of you!
She gently caressed the remaining dark line of skin on her palm where her aunt had struck her.
In the darker parts of Havana where the castle often casts its shadow were ancient, dangerous neighborhoods. Here Austin often needed to carry some sort of protection, but presently he only wielded the old songbook Dez gave him yesterday. All last night Austin had been consumed in the finesse of the words and the notes of the melodies, but he wasn't one to imagine music in his head as if he had an organ in there. Luckily there was a decently functional organ in an old church in one of those dark Havana streets, and when he arrived at the doors they were already opened a crack as if they were expecting him.
The organ was located at the very end of the hall beyond the altar. The worn brass pipes stretched high towards the colored glass pane of an indiscernible white winged creature, one of tales that Austin never heard of. He made a silent note to ask about that one day. He took a seat at the bench and set the book open on its spine. The page was opened to his favorite song, Break Down the Walls.
"Eeeyeah…" He sang, pressing down on the keys. "Stop, hiding out in the shadows…scared to let the world know you exist…" He began slowly, trying to get his fingers to process the notes as fast as he belted out the words. "Don't…lock yourself in the darkness…the world is so—" he tried using a higher pitch, but the organ did not agree and played an angry, dirt filled note. "The world is so much brighter than this!" He retried. "Ugh! Why is this song so hard to play?!" He exclaimed, beating his fingers on the keyboard in frustration.
He restarted from the beginning, playing only the instrument first. The organ was much harder to play when the keys were small, so sometimes his fat fingers would jam into two keys at a time, making unpleasant noises come out. The organ in his village was more suitable to his large hands. He tried the foot pedals as he played, not really sure if they made any significant differences to the sound. The rest of the keys came out screechy and horrible!
"What the hell!" He groaned and took the book into his hands and read it closer. He hadn't been studying music that long, but he knew he could read these notes…some of them…they were just so tiny in this pocketbook, if only he had a larger print—
A heavy click from the front doors echoed through the hall. Austin's eyes popped open wide. Trolls weren't liked in any part of the kingdom nor in private areas like churches, and he was pretty sure that anyone in the black faction of Havana could easily dispose of him and get away with it. He dove for the long curtains draped against the wall and hid behind them. He could see through a sliver in the curtain who was entering.
It must've been a girl. She wore a floor length dark velvet red cloak with gold embroidering in the hood. Something so extravagant was a bit familiar to him, but he wasn't sure where. Her head was bent down as she scribbled into a wide-leaf booklet—must've been a songbook from the size and thin pages.
"Melody needs work," she muttered, "I'll slow the tempo…change a cord…yep, that should be good." She automatically made her way up the steps and to the bench by the time she was done scribbling. Austin was able to make out her face once she had the book set properly. There was something familiar to those dark eyes…
She strummed the entire scale, getting a feel for the sound.
Now he recognized her! She was the girl who he passed at the library yesterday! She was different then he had expected, she looked soft and delicate…
She played slowly, gently, precisely. The pipes of the organ flowed deep, earthy sounds that felt silky smooth compared to Austin's bumpy car ride. Once she finished the prologue she entered the actual song—Austin's ears perked at the notes—it was Break Down the Walls! She was playing the song he was just playing! He opened his songbook to the page and followed along, his eyes recognizing notes that rose like mountains and quelled deep like trenches—
Ping!
"No!" Austin blurted at the altered note—he cursed and put his hand over his mouth, but the damage had been done. The music stopped. Through the sliver in the curtain he could see the girl getting up and cautiously stepping his way.
P.S. This is mostly an AU, so to those following for Pokemon and were expecting Pokemon, you can still enjoy this story without knowing the show. As for everyone else; just enjoy the show, because I have plans :D. This however is written just for fun, so updates can be frequent or weekly...depending on you readers.
