Disclaimer: All characters belong to Libba Bray, I'm just borrowing them.
A/N-This was written for Rowena DeVandal's 1000 words or Less Challenge, the theme being Taking Something Away. Thanks to Meg for editing.
"Gemma, is there any way you can use the magic to get rid of my…affliction?" Pippa looked at her, eyes filled with curiosity.
Gemma met her gaze, hesitating on answering. "I don't know. I still don't know how much control I have--"
"But you have control don't you?" Felicity questioned.
"Yes," Gemma sighed, "I just don't know if I can or what will happen."
"Oh please Gemma try! Do something for our dear Pip. This can save her from marrying that horrid man."
"And then I can finally find true love." Pippa thought of her knight. He could be her true love.
Gemma rolled her eyes. "Is that your whole reasoning behind this?"
"No, of course not. I want to be well and to be able to live my life how I want to."
"Don't you think that is reason enough?" Felicity asked. "It doesn't hurt to try. I think that we should. Ann thinks so also, don't you Ann?"
Ann stopped her humming for a moment, just so that she could mutter a meek yes to the question. Gemma glanced at her, realizing she had lost her only chance of being able to get away from this.
"Fine. I'll try. I'm not guaranteeing this will be forever, it will only last a few hours at most."
Pippa just shook her head. She knew that the magic was going to help her. Though, it was true that they hadn't taken it out of the Realms for more than a few hours at a time. This time she knew it was going to be different.
She needed it to be different.
As soon as she felt the magic entering her, she felt something different. She didn't know what was going on, but she knew something was different. Felicity looked at her expectantly.
"Well?" She looked at Gemma. "Did anything happen?"
"I-I don't know."
Pippa did know though. She caught the look on Gemma's face that said she knew something too. Neither were willing to share what they had felt, what had just happened. Both knew that the magic had done something, that it had changed something inside of Pippa.
"Did it work Pippa?" Felicity looked at her friend with hope.
"I don't know. I don't think we will know right away."
"Oh. How sad."
"Let's go explore the Realms some more. Come on, enough moping about." Pippa stood up, brushing off her skirt. She needed to find her knight.
Gemma grabbed a hold of Pippa's arm. "I don't know what just happened with the magic, but you have to remember if it did something, it's not going to be forever."
"Yes I know. Nothing with the magic is forever, we've heard it all before. Let us have some fun now all right?" Her mind was telling her something else though.
She danced through the Realms, this thought on her mind. She was joyful as she went off to find her knight.
Pippa looked at her reflection in the shop window. She was smiling. She loved to see her smile. A year ago it had been non existent. Oh it had been there, just not a genuine one. Ever since the day that Gemma somehow rid her of her epilepsy, all the smiles had been real.
Perhaps it wasn't only because of that though. It might have been how right her life had become since that night.
She had finally been able to stand up to her parents. To tell them what she really wanted. And while they had fought her on it, she got what she wanted.
She had been able to get rid of that God awful Mr. Bumble swiftly enough. He hadn't stayed long, like she at first thought he might have. He had left her alone and her parents had started on another quest to find her a suitable match. She had defied them.
All because she had found her true knight.
It had happened not long after that night. The school had been on an outing for something or other; it had been frivolous, so Pippa hadn't paid it much mind. A young man had run into her and after screaming at him for being so rude, she had gotten a good look at him.
And the rest of what happened between the two of them was history.
"Pippa, love, are you coming?" he called out to her, holding out his hand.
She smiled her genuine smile at him and grabbed a hold of his hand. She was running away with him that evening.
She hadn't wanted to run away with him. Her parents were not allowing her to see him, so it was the only way she would be able to see him. They were unable to see that she loved him and he loved her. They felt that he would never be a suitable match for him, especially with her epilepsy. They didn't think that it was gone away, like she had been insisting.
So she ran away. She finally knew that she was able to break free of their constraints, break free of all that they had ever wanted of her. She no longer had to listen to them. The one thing that had been holding her back--her affliction--was now gone and there was no stopping her.
She thought back to what Gemma had said that night. She had said it wasn't going to be forever. She knew now that this was not true--it was forever.
She looked at her true love, felt the warmth of his hand in hers.
It was always going to be forever.