*A/N - Hello boys, girls and everyone in between. Oh boy, it has been a long time since I posted. Sorry to disappoint anyone that might be looking for a Jeff & Annie fic. (Don't worry, I'm in the middle of writing one, lol.) This post is a long time coming. I remember watching Castle in the Sky years ago with my sister, it was one of my favorite movies and with that re-watch I realized that the most interesting character never really gets her own backstory. I love Dola so much. I started talking to my sister about how much I would love to read a story about her life when she was younger, especially after noticing a painting she had of her younger self in the background of her room. I pretty much came up with one right then and there, but because I was lazy I never got around to actually writing it. Years later (last year, in fact) I stuck my nose to the grindstone and wrote it. Only my sister has read this and it was at her behest that I started to think about posting it. Sorry for the long intro, just wanted to give you all a heads-up about what is essentially a Dola origin story. I hope you enjoy. As always, please R&R, it means a lot. Thanks so much - Nikki


Chapter 1: The Dola Gang

Terrence Dola and his wife Katherine both came from small, quiet families and had vowed from the day of their engagement that their children would grow and mature in a loud, large and loving family. Not too long after the honeymoon, the expanding of their family had already begun.

A big and dark-haired boy named Samuel was born first to the new family. Katherine didn't believe she would live through the labor and had to be convinced for months after that she wanted a large family, but it took her not much longer than a year to concede that the light of her life needed brothers or sisters. Terrence was overjoyed the moment Katherine told him that they were yet again, expecting. Samuel who once globbed on to his father's leg, quickly noticed the growing girth of his mother and never left her side. His father assured him several times, that his mother was not sick and would be just fine, but Samuel wasn't so sure and took it upon himself to protect his ever-widening mother, guessing that from the size of her she was in for a very bad stomachache, just like the ones he had also become accustomed to whenever he snuck his hand in the cookie jar as well.

Samuel felt a little silly once his mother's size returned and a brother was brought to his home. Kenneth was noticeably smaller than Samuel, even if he was still considered large for a newborn. The fair Ken cried all throughout the night and drove Samuel to wishing his mother had received a stomachache instead, but that soon changed. Samuel didn't like the name Kenneth, he thought Ken was too mature a nickname for a baby. Even Sam sounded softer on the tongue then Ken, but alas no one would listen to a 3 year old; even though it was clear he was wise beyond his years.

When Ken was old enough to walk on his own, Samuel would drag him along behind him, calling him Kenny even if his parents didn't agree. Samuel didn't like to share his hero father with a sibling, but always tried his best to be accommodating. In the morning Terrence would drink the coffee Katherine had made and grab his lunch while kissing his wife goodbye. He would always pick up both his sons and squeeze them close to his chest, kiss them on the forehead, tell them he loved them and made sure they knew that it was their job to protect their mother as the men of the house while he was gone. Samuel knew that his father was talking specifically to him, but Kenneth was always more preoccupied by how his father would wink at his mother every time he said that. Kenneth realized that he was talking to Samuel, but also was talking for Samuel, so he would smile, nod and giggle.

When Katherine became pregnant for the third time she knew immediately that it would be a boy. Half premonition and half dream, Katherine couldn't help but feel a very slight disappointment, as a daughter still eluded her. Henry was born right on time to an already situated family and the labor proved even more exhausting than Katherine had expected. She slept for hours after the birth and woke up only to the sound of her new son's cry for food. He fed and slept soundly on her chest. Even in her fatigue, Katherine felt the pride of her growing family and held little Henry as close to her chest as comfort would allow both of them.

Samuel, Kenneth and Henry got in a disturbing amount of trouble. At 7, 5 and 3 they were viewed as little adorable monsters of chaos. More times than she could count, Katherine had to remind her sons who the boss was and immediately they all would fall back into line. When Terrence would come home covered in dirt and day blind from working in the mines, he would lay beside his wife and thank her for making his home, his life and his heart full of her and their beautiful family. He couldn't deny that he wanted a little girl like Katherine to join his home, to ground her brothers and so he teased his wife. "Give me one more; a princess like you."

At this Katherine gave a hearty chuckle that vibrated through her chest and said, "I'll try to give you one like me, but she won't be a princess, she'll be a warrior." Katherine smiled and kissed her husband goodnight. She knew she was already pregnant, but she feared that this would not be like her last pregnancies and would most definitely be her last one.


The day Katherine went into labor, she sent a neighbor to bring her husband from the mines. Already the contractions were coming closer together and a familiar fatigue had filled her body. She kissed her sons and sent them away to her friend's house down the street, she couldn't have them witness her pain. Terrence came home just before their fourth child was born. He ran into the room, held his wife's hand, kissed her forehead and thanked her for everything she was doing and had already done. He couldn't articulate just how much he owed his wife and promised himself that he wouldn't ask her for another child. The paleness of her skin and weakness of her breath filled him with a fear that paralyzed him, but he shook it away because he knew that he needed to be strong for his wife.

This labor was quicker than the others and soon Katherine felt her strength fading. She didn't want to scare her husband with what she already knew, so she mustered her strength and kissed his hand telling him how much she loved him and how happy she was that their family was now complete. She began to hyperventilate, but pushed through and told Terrence what she wanted to name their daughter.

A breath, a name and a push later and their daughter was born screeching out into the world giving a battle cry befitting her name. Terrence held his little warrior daughter in his arms and kissed her tiny fingers, knowing that his family was complete. He turned to show Katherine what she had done, what gift she had brought to the world and saw the weak smile and the light fading from her eyes. Terrence called out Katherine's name knowing it was too late, but still clinging to the shroud of denial within his reach.


Terrence did his best to handle the loss of his wife, but found it impossible to shield the pain, especially from his children. Explaining to Samuel, Kenneth and Henry that their mother was gone was the hardest thing he ever had to do. Every fiber of his being blamed himself. Terrence felt the burden of the pressure he forced on Katherine to give him a daughter and even though he had her, the joy he should have felt was overwhelmed with the grief of losing the love of his life.

It took some time, but soon the boys cried less and found strength in their bond together. Samuel felt a need to keep the memory of his mother alive to his younger siblings. It was hard to look at his sister without feeling anger, but he was old enough to know that it wasn't her fault. When Terrence felt weary, Samuel would hold his sister in his arms and sing his mother's favorite song. Kenneth and Henry took Samuel's lead and borrowed from their brother's strength.

At night when the boys were fast asleep, Terrence would walk silently to the crib and rock his Mathilde gently, promising to do his best by her. "Mighty in battle," he chuckled to himself once. It was like Katherine to hold their daughter to such standards. The fair-haired little girl would squirm in her sleep and coo, but she never cried, not for too long, not too loud. Terrence never knew if it was her way of not creating any trouble or if it was an omen of the resilience she was sure to possess. Sometimes if he held her long enough, he felt like it would bring Katherine back to him, if just for a moment, to witness that they had been successful, she had given him a little one like her and he would keep her safe at all costs. Terrence knew that some of Katherine lived on in their children and he clung to them with everything.


Mathilde was no older than 4 years old the first time she came home with snot and tears, sniffling and sobbing incoherently. One of the boys in her class had pulled her pigtails and pushed her onto the ground. She was one of the weakest kids in the pre-school. Her brothers would stand beside her and she had depended on them for everything. Mathilde tugged on Samuel's shirt as he started to make dinner. Samuel scolded her for coming home by herself and not waiting for them to pick her up. Mathilde wiped the snot on her shirt and cried about how the mean boy, Mason made fun of her for being a crybaby. Kenneth and Henry came over and Ken wiped away her tears, while Henry just hugged her and told her she would be fine.

"Enough!" Samuel reprimanded. "Kenny, Henry, stop babying her." Kenneth and Henry stepped back shocked by the severity of Sam's voice. "What did you say he called you, Tilly?"

Mathilde sniffed twice and tried to clear her throat. "He called me a cr-cr-crybaby." She stuttered.

"And what are you doing?" Samuel said solidly.

"Crying…" She said meekly.

"And what does that make Mason?"

"Right?" Mathilde looked back at her oldest brother.

"Exactly; by crying and throwing a fit like this, you are proving Mason right. Do you want to prove Mason right? Do you want to be a crybaby?"

"No." Mathilde sniffed and lifted her head to look at her brother. "No, I don't want to be a crybaby."

"What do you want to be Tilly?" Samuel kneeled in front of her and sent his brothers a look that silenced any protest they might have of his scolding her.

"I want to be strong." She nodded. She reached out to him and hugged around his neck. "I'm sorry, Sammy. I forgot that I need to be strong."

Sam pulled away and wiped the tears from his sister's cheek. "It's okay."

"Sammy, what's an orphan?"

"An orphan?" He breathed, testing what she might say. "Why do you ask?" He looked to Ken and Henry. They all stayed silent and watched her uncertain expression.

"Because Mason also said that I was one bad day away from being one." Mathilde looked embarrassed as if she had said something wrong. "I don't get it. What does it mean?" She shuffled her eyes around the room to each brother. Suddenly she felt like crying all over again, scared by the looks on their faces.

Samuel quickly untied the apron that was wrapped around him and tossed it on the counter. "You said Mason, right?" Mathilde could only nod. "Henry, you stay here and finish dinner. Kenny, let's go." Kenneth was right on his brother's tail and they left the house without another word.

The two eldest brothers came home two hours later. They spoke very little as they scarfed down their cold dinners. As Samuel put Mathilde to bed later that night, he made her promise to always do her best to be strong. "Sammy, what happened with Mason?"

Sam cleared his throat. "Kenny and I did our part to scare him. He's not going to pick on you again, okay? That doesn't mean you can be weak, though. Mason said something that he shouldn't have, so Kenny and I had to make sure that he knew it wasn't okay. But Tilly, I need you to listen to me." Mathilde looked back at her brother as he pushed some of her pale strawberry blonde hair (that reminded him of his mother) out of her face. "No matter where you go or what you do in life, there are going to be mean people like Mason who want to hurt your feelings and who try to make you cry, but the most important thing is that you don't let them. If you cry, they win, okay Tilly? People like that should never get to win and you should never get to lose and that is why you need to be strong. That is why Kenny, Henry and I can't keep fighting for you. Do you understand?"

"What's an orphan, Sammy?" Mathilde felt a little nervous to ask, since he got so angry the last time she had.

He took a deep breath, and his face became almost rigid, but his eyes were soft. "You don't need to worry about that Tilly, because you will never be one, okay? Do you hear me? You aren't and never will be an orphan." Sam hugged her.

Sam started to leave, but Mathilde coughed and asked him to sing her their mother's lullaby. He obliged and turned out the light once he had finished.

Mathilde took her brother's words to heart and held true to her promise. The next morning she smiled at her father during breakfast and placed her small hand on his forearm in assurance. "So how is the Dola gang this morning?" Terrence placed his daughter on his lap and hugged her tight.

Mathilde smiled and bragged. "Sammy taught me that I need to be strong and now I'm not going to let Mason make me cry ever again."

Terrence looked at his oldest son questioningly, but Samuel just shook his head. He knew his father wouldn't be okay with how harsh he was with Tilly, but Sam knew that his mother wanted her to be strong and he would work his absolute hardest to make sure that he helped her. He owed it to their mother and he owed it to Tilly.


Over the next few years, Mathilde had her brother's teach her what it meant to be strong. She never cried or asked them to handle her bullies, because she refused to break her promise. It didn't take long for her to prove her own strength and soon she had no bullies to face and even started to make friends. Ken and Henry would always come pick her up from school, while Sam always rushed home to get the house in order and begin prepping for dinner.

When Mathilde turned 10 years old, Sam began to work in the mines with her father. The house suffered and Mathilde kicked the two younger brothers into gear and forced them to help her with making sure that Samuel and Terrence came home to a peaceful and clean sanctuary. Mathilde missed her oldest brother and would stay up extra late to eat dinner with him and their father.

A couple years later, Kenneth joined his father and older brother in the mines. It was a shock to the whole household. It was well known that the mines were the main place to find employment in their village, but Mathilde always believed that Kenneth would continue to go to school. He was undoubtedly the smartest and most motivated, but he was determined to pursue job security if it meant bringing home more income for the family.

The first day Kenneth worked in the mines he came home exhausted, but still found the energy to speak about the mining conditions with gusto. In summary, Kenneth was appalled by how the family who owned the mines seemed akin to slave drivers. Kenneth was quickly nudged by Samuel who interrupted him and made a joke about Kenny's overactive imagination, exaggerating on what were considered perfectly acceptable conditions.

Later that night, when Samuel, Terrence and Henry had gone to bed, Mathilde pulled Kenneth to the side and asked him to tell her the truth about what the mines were like. "Tilly, Sam and Dad don't want you to know the truth, they know you'll worry. The Wainwright's allow very few breaks and sometimes they force the miners to push beyond what might be considered safe."

"Why would you want to continue working there, Kenny?" Mathilde felt sick thinking her brothers' and father might be at risk for injury so some already rich family could cash out.

"Look, Till, there's only so much work to be fairly divided in this town and I am strong and healthy enough to work in the mines, there are some who aren't as lucky as I am. Plus, with my ambition, I might be able to make some changes. I can try to reach out to management and make work safer for Dad and Sam and everyone else down there. I think it's worth a shot." He smiled and playfully pushed her. "This means you need to work really hard in school. Henry will more than likely follow us and work in the mines after he's done with school. You have to be the one who makes it out of here and becomes independently wealthy and then you can take care of us. The Dola gang sticks together, right?"

Mathilde smiled. "Of course, and once I'm worth millions, we'll buy the mine and run it as I see fit. We could bring more jobs to this town and pay back everyone who helped us."

He looked at her with a cryptic expression. Mathilde didn't realize it was awe until he spoke. "You know, sometimes I can barely remember her face, but then I see the goodness in you and it feels like I'm looking back at Mom."

She smiled brightly and her eyes became glossy. "Really? You think so Kenny?"

"Sam says it all the time. He says that's why he wants us to push you so hard, because Mom was tough and you're like Mom. He says that Mom used to rub her belly and call you her little warrior. She said you would make our family complete. Dad told her not to expect a girl, that it was more likely that we would get another brother. But she would always glare at him and say not to question a mother's intuition." He began to laugh. "She always knew how to silence Dad."

"What else? What was she like?" Mathilde listened to her brother's memory of their mother until she fell fast asleep. Kenneth carried her to her bed and noticed that her smile was never disturbed in her sleep, probably still clinging to the secondhand memories of a mother she never got to know.


Henry did join his older brothers and father in the mine. Henry was never one to question patterns or go against the current; he was happy as long as they were all together. He remembered his mother just enough to recall waking up without her there for the first time. All he needed was to hold tight to his family and if that meant not asking questions and falling into a role that was expected of him, he was more than happy to oblige.

A few months after all the Dola men were working in the mines. Mathilde came home in an excited frenzy. She had just finished a conversation with her teacher. He had taught Kenneth and was amazed at the young man's attention to detail and skill with memorizing anything laid before him, but Mr. O'Connor told Mathilde that at the pace and dedication she was working towards that he could easily see her surpassing even her brother's academic accomplishments. O'Connor recommended moving her up in her classes and even advised pursuing higher education. Mathilde pulled dinner together from scratch, thrilled by the good news and the reminder that she had been keeping her promise to Kenny.

Terrence was overjoyed to hear his daughter's news. She beamed at the dinner table and it was one of those rare moments when Terrence felt at ease, completely content. Since the loss of his wife, he almost always felt guilt when he looked at Till, because even though he wouldn't trade his daughter for anything in the world, in a second of weakness he would look at her and think that begging his wife for her is why he no longer slept beside the love of his life and why he had learned to live with consistent heartache and in those moments of pity he became ashamed of himself for thinking anything that even resembled regret over his daughter. But he didn't need to think about that; today was a good day. "Just goes to show, never underestimate the Dola gang!" They all toasted to their youngest member, hooting, laughing and patting her on the back as she grinned until her cheeks were sore. Yes, today was a good day, but even good days end.


The retiring of that good day brought the worse day in its wake. Mathilde woke early and prepared breakfast for her family. Each man sipped his coffee, ate their breakfast and embraced her good day, none of them knowing it was goodbye.

Mathilde hurried to class eager to continue proving herself. O'Connor smiled and couldn't help but dote on the optimistic and promising student. He knew her history and saw how much work she put into becoming the best, all in the name of thanking her family. She was smart and had an undeniably bright future ahead.

In the mine, Kenneth felt something was wrong. The earth vibrated a warning that shook through his body. He tried to tell his brothers and father, but they likened it to paranoia. There was unrest in the mines. The shift before theirs had been subjected to new limits; they had been forced to mine beyond what was safe. The Wainwright's demanded more noteworthy progress. Digging a little deeper, moving a little faster, pushing even harder, that was the best way to work efficiently. The shift lead before the Dola's patted Terrence on the shoulder and told him to do his best because the slave laborers were a little low on mercy today.

Terrence made an offhand remark about him and his boys being able to handle themselves. They laughed and bid each other adieu until tomorrow. Within two hours, Terrence felt more tired than he ever had in his 51 years of life. All the Dola boys stuck close to their father, able to handle being pushed to their limits, with youth on their side.

Henry smiled at his father and handed him his handkerchief and made a joke about the day Mathilde would buy a big house for them to all retire in. Terrence laughed and it was the last sound to escape his mouth. A group nearby had dug too deep and pushed too hard, at the behest of their employer, and their world literally began to crumble. There was a shout and the whole mine came crashing down. There wasn't much time to move or scream or think and within a few seconds darkness descended and robbed the world of 20 good men, which included all four of the Dola's.

That day 14 year old Mathilde came home as soon as class let out. She was determined to immediately begin her homework. She felt pride and excitement with the path that was being laid out before her. All she had to do was work hard. Finally she could pay her brothers and father back. After all they had done for her, Mathilde at last found a way to make it up to them.

She set the table and began dinner. She looked at the other empty head of the table. The seat opposite her father, between her and Henry; even though Mathilde hated to assume, she had a feeling her mother was proud of how hard she had been working. She addressed the chair. "I'm going to make you even prouder. I'm going to do right by the Dola gang. I want to make things easier on Dad. I know I can do this." A knock at the door interrupted her reverie. Mathilde knew that it wasn't her brothers or father, they wouldn't be home for at least another hour.

She hesitantly opened the door and saw her mother's old friend and neighbor. "What is it, Betty?" She pulled the door back further and got a better look at the distraught and dazed older woman.

Betty approached the young girl and had no words to describe what had happened.


After an hour of denial, Mathilde kicked Betty out of her home. This was followed by three hours of screaming. After she lost her voice, she silently prayed for her own death, anything to consume her pain. Oblivion was better than heartbreak. She broke her hand on the wall after that. By midnight the tearless girl blacked out. It wasn't sleep, sleep was peaceful, sleep was rejuvenation. Her mind just needed to detach from anything and everything.

Mathilde talked to no one. Betty handled the arrangements. Within a few days, a service was held for the Dola men. A group memorial for the miners had been put together the day before, leaving this day to mourn the loss of the Dola men, a hub in the community. Tilly looked at no one and ignored the voices of pity and the meaningless condolences offered her way. What good was sorry now?

Betty talked hoping that Mathilde would listen and maybe promise to come home with her family that night. She still said nothing. Betty felt as if her heart was being crushed. No one ever deserved this kind of pain, especially not the faultless young woman.

Eventually Mathilde stood in silence and solitude. She removed the black veil from her eyes and crushed the thorny roses in her hand until her matching blood fell. She dropped the bloody rose over Samuel's grave. 22 years old and him the oldest of the brothers, Kenneth hadn't yet turned 20 and Henry was barely 18.

As the rose fell, Mathilde could hear Sam's voice in her head. "Damn liar!" She sneered at the headstone as she heard the memory of her oldest brother's voice promising her that she would never be an orphan.