It's undeniable how brilliant you are
In an unreliable world you shine like a star
It's unforgettable now that we've come this far
It's unmistakable that you're undeniable
She's been gone for years, and now when she comes back, everything is different. She's a reporter, traveling from place to place and seeing marvelous places. Avalon looks the same when she drives in, with her rental car, coffee in one hand, talking on speaker about her latest story with her editor.
And then she pulls into the drive, and Max and Brooke are there to greet her. They're married. After the big split, they didn't want to bother her with the wedding. She was in Africa anyway. But she's the godmother of their child. His name is Ernie. Ernie hasn't been seen for ages. He's not human anymore, that's for sure. Harley couldn't make it.
But she's okay. She's happy to be home, that's all that matters. Everyone's still alive. That's what matters, in their life. And when she goes to bed, she has all night to cry. That's okay.
February 5th, Friday morning, purple dawn
Broke a yawn, as a I stepped through the fog, like I stepped to a song
She goes for a jog that morning. It's cold, of course, but the run warms her up. The town is so similar. She feels like she's in elementary again. But now she's older, and she hasn't been here for so long, and she wasn't invited to the wedding, and she misses Ernie, and Harley didn't even bother to say hi.
She's going to go see him. She's not sure what he'll be like anymore. She doesn't know what to expect. But she's never been good with curiosity. She's glad she's not a cat. So she goes and jogs down to the forest where his trailer has always been parked.
A moment like a poem, you wish you could hold it
I shut my eyes like it's frozen, it's gone when I open
When she gets there, he's working on a car, his head lowered under the hood. Tears spring to her eyes, and when she blinks them away, she can't remember why they were there. "Hey, Harley," she calls, brushing hair from her face. There's a thud and some cursing, and Harley leans out to look at her.
His head is bandaged up. "Natalia!" He cries happily. "Sorry I didn't come by, I was sort of assigned to bed rest."
She puts her hand on her hips. "And you're not in bed?"
He shrugs. "I was bored."
"Oh, so you couldn't come see me, but you can go out to work on your cars, huh?" She feels a smile coming on, but she doesn't want to smile just yet. Not before he feels her wrath.
He looks sheepish. "I have hot chocolate, do you want some?" he asks.
She looks at him, and he's not that different. Taller, true, as unlikely as it seems, and older, but still, just about the same. He acts the same. "I'd love some hot chocolate." She nods.
It slipped passed the clouds right there where it lingered
Like your band and a girl could slip through your fingers
He watches her hesitantly for the entire time. Like he's afraid she'll disappear. As if she were a pleasant dream that will be gone when he wakes up. She's scared she looks the same way. Things have changed for him too. Max has work to do, now that he has a family, and the faeries are still there, of course.
My feet hit the ground like a beat for the lonely
On a path beaten down by the crowds in the morning
When she left, the air seemed colder, but her heart felt warmer. She broke into a run, not wanting to look back. She'd be back, she knew. She'd found the part of Avalon that mattered, that remained the same after all this time. And it wouldn't go anywhere.
If only I could touch past the phony
If only they were there now to hold me
As the questions keep droning
After Natalia left, Harley went to get some bed rest. His head really did hurt. He'd hurt himself helping Max, again. He'd been even worse last night, or Max or no Max, he'd have gone to see Natalia. It had been empty without her. Ernie leaving had only made the hole bigger. Now that she was back… the hole seemed miles smaller.
He still knew so little about her life away from Avalon. Did she have a family? Boyfriend? Where had she been for so long? She'd told him about Africa, but her eyes seemed so sad. Did she miss the places she'd been, or this place she'd left, forever changed? He wish he'd had the courage to ask her.
You're the only one who stuck it out last night
The only other one who caught the other line
You're the only one when this world collides
The one that I can't deny
When they'd first come up against the entire faerie ordeal, Natalia had been the closest to him anymore. The one who'd turned around to help him no matter what, who had been there even when she was so frightened for Ernie, who had responded with so much fury when he was always getting hurt… he'd missed her so much. She was the one who held him in check. His logic.It's undeniable how brilliant you are
In an unreliable world you shine like a star
It's unforgettable now that we've come this far
It's unmistakable that you're undeniable
She goes to sleep happy that night. She thinks this might be love. So many times she's had someone there to keep her rooted, but Harley's always been her root, no matter where she's been or gone. Isn't that the point? Someone like the others but more eternal? But he makes her happy, so it doesn't matter much what she calls it.
It's my last year here
My first class moved to portable 'a'
Under construction since summer
And it's cold today
It's cold, winter's rolling in. He really kind of hates winter. The faeries get bad, and lately his trailer isn't the warmest. He could buy a house, but somehow he forgets in the summer and there aren't many for sale in the winter. He pats the trailer on the side, looking in at the holes that siphon away his heat. He shakes his head. He'll slap something on the holes for the winter. Maybe.
I can see my breath, and what's left of the west parking lot
And all the spaces that we fought
And it all seems forgotten, left in the bottom
In past piles of rubble, in puddles of rain water
She's shopping. It's one hell of a cold day, and her scarf doesn't feel as warm as usual. She loads up her car's trunk with all the food she could need for a week. It feels like Norway. She looks to the woods, where the fog is thickest. Avalon is a darker place, regardless of how hard they fought. She shudders, her heart cold. She can see the rubble of houses closest to the forest. It feels like failure. She hates it.
That hurt last night when I left like that
When I won't come back
Speaking my peace to the past
I can't help but wonder, who is this wind at my back
A whisper to walk on, come on from all that
She's been here for a few months now. She feels the beck and call of her next adventure. She's leaving soon, she knows that. She left Harley last night with the knowledge that it might have been the last time she goes over there. That hurts the most, she thinks, making the decision between him and her constant moving. Maybe this time they'll stay in touch. Maybe.
It's undeniable how brilliant you are
In an unreliable world you shine like a star
It's unforgettable now that we've come this far
It's unmistakable that you're undeniableHarley knows the look when she leaves. It's the same look she gets when she thinks about seeing a unicorn, or when she's determined to help someone in need. It's the same look she got when she left the first time. He's never been to her house. He knows she feels trapped sometimes, so he's been trying to let her have her space. When she comes, she comes.
But he's not gonna let her run off again. He's missed her too much, enjoyed her company too much. So space or not, he's going to go, beg, reason, anything to make her stay.
He's cold as he walks. Why he never buys a house is beyond him. He sniffles slightly, and his nose prickles with a sneeze. His heart is heavy with the thought of Natalia leaving, and the two of them together bring tears to his eyes. He shakes his boots clean of snow as he walks up the steps to her house. He's been here before, despite the strange looks and glares from Natalia's parents.
Now she lives alone, but he's more afraid than ever. He shakes himself to warm up. It doesn't really work. He knocks. It takes a moment for the door to open, but when it does, the air that sweeps out is so warm and smells like pumpkin pie, and she has her red hair down, looking like the most beautiful woman on earth. She looks him up and down slowly. "You look dead," she says.
He nearly is.
How am I gonna take it away in this winter wind
You found me on a summer breeze
How am I gonna run away when the autumn breaks
Now that you found me in the spring
Come on and sing it out
She dishes out a cup of hot chocolate. Harley's sitting on the floor next to the heater, with several warm blankets over him. She's never thought that she'd have to take care of him, but here they are. He takes the cup from her with shaking hands. "So, what are you doing, stomping around in the cold like that?"
"You're leaving again," he says, gently sipping at the cocoa.
"How'd you know?" she asks, taken aback.
"You get this... look," he answers.
Natalia smiles sadly. "So you're here to talk me out of it?"
"We could make it work."
"Could we?" She looks timid, but hopeful.
"Of course we could." He sneezes. "I'll fix cars, you'll write for the paper. I'll stay out too late and hurt myself, and you can come and hit me over the head with things and then take care of me. And when I'm not being stupid, I'll cook you noodles, because that's the only thing I can cook, but when you're free, we'll cook together, and then on holidays and break time, we'll take an old car and drive and drive until we see something amazing, and when we come back, we'll have this house to come into and be warm and dry and happy together. That would work, of course it would work."
She looks at him for a long time. Finally, she stands up, goes into the room, and returns with a rolled up newspaper. She walks over to him and hits him over the head with it. He looks at her in surprise, then grins. She grins back. Together.