A/N Man, it's been a long time since I last posted something. I mean yeah, I've been working on stuff for the past 3 months, but I just… really needed a break after everything that's happened. And for those wondering, yes, I'm still alive and writing. In fact, my next story's already in the final phases of editing. I just need to bring myself to actually do it!
Anyways, this is a special fic, because today's MrTyeDye's birthday! And as per tradition, I wrote a fic based on a prompt he asked for, I hope you guys enjoy! And happy birthday MrTyeDye! As always R&R!
What If A Dream Came True?
*Knock* *Knock* "Lucy are you still in there?" A soft, masculine voice found its way through the wooden door.
"Yes Lincoln," the young woman replied, brushing her hair carefully and unfurling the knots she had never found the time to remove. "You can come in."
Slowly, the young man peered into the room, before pushing his way inside. And once his eyes fell upon the sight of his little sister, he stood by, his mouth left open in uncertainty. "Wow… you look… amazing,"
The young woman turned and smiled in response. "Heh, thank you, Lincoln." Instead of her typical black dress, she wore an elegant grey wedding gown decorated with countless loops and frills that would make even the queen of England blush!
"I guess that means I look good, right?" Lucy spoke with a soft, hopeful tone. "I know it's not like anything I usually wear but…"
The young man replied by walking over and placing his hand on her shoulder. "I think you look amazing in it," he looked into her eyes with a smile. "Now, are you ready to see him? Everyone's waiting for the ceremony to start."
Lucy didn't hesitate to nod. "Yeah, I'm ready," she instinctually rubbed her arms, trying to warm herself up. "Is it just me or did it just get colder in here?"
Lincoln chuckled in response. "It's just you," before he walked over to the vanity and grabbed her arm warmers. "You almost forgot we're in an old castle," and with that he handed them over, before offering his arm to her.
"This is going to be the best day of my life," Lucy whispered as she covered her arms and took her brother's.
"All I can say is, while I'm a bit surprised you were able to convince him, he's a pretty nice guy," Lincoln chuckled, before tugging ever so slightly, ordering Lucy to step out of the room with him. As they made their way through the old, melancholy castle, a soft silence overtook them, with Lucy nervously trying to keep up with her brother while he simply stood strong for her. "Don't worry Lucy."
"Huh?" She perked up in surprise.
He softly guided her over to a small set of wooden double doors- the entrance to the castle's chapel. "No matter what happens, we'll always be here for you," and with that, he knocked, prompting the two guards present to open the double doors, revealing a beautiful room decorated with images of saints and angels, blasting trumpets towards the sky. Thousands of glowing orbs lit up the room as if they were miniature stars. Upon see her soon-to-be-wed sister, Luna began to play the organ, filling the quiet room with the soft sounds of marriage.
"Everyone came…" She spoke with a soft, unbelieving tone.
"Heh, as much as you loved to say how alone you were in the world, from the looks of it, not too many people thought of you the same way," Lincoln quipped, before standing up straight. "Ready?"
"It's a shame mom and dad couldn't come…" Lucy looked away, before standing up straight.
"Well, sometimes life gets to ya before you can see it all," he glanced at her with a smile. "Just remember, 'people are puppets held together with red string', even if they're not here in person, I'm sure they're cheering you on in spirit."
The young woman took a deep breath with that. "Yeah, you're right."
And her brother chuckled. "I know I am," he looked back up, towards the groom waiting at the altar with his hands held at rest. He was a staunch, young man with almost pure-white skin and black hair that rolled into a curl over his forehead. He wore a black suit with a red handkerchief tucked into his collar. In fact, if it wasn't for the two fangs sticking out from the top of his mouth, many would think this was an ordinary wedding! "Now, ready to become a wife to the man you've always dreamed of marrying?"
In that moment, hundreds of memories rushed to the forefront of her mind. From all of those little moments that they had shared to even ones that she thought she had forgotten. She remembered the joy she felt when he asked her out on their first date, to how it felt to kiss him for the first time. She tried to forget their first fight, though that too rushed back, as well as how they made up soon after, in only ways true lovers could.
She took a soft breath and smiled, knowing that it all had let up to this day. "I'm ready, Lincoln. Let's go," she then pulled her veil over her head and held onto her brother's arm. And together, they stepped forward, the soft music of marriage filling the air as they did so.
As Lucy made her way towards the table that would bond her soul for eternity, she took note of all present. Haiku came, as well as Luan's friend Maggie. Rocky came by too, though he seemed a little more than disappointed in the fact that he wasn't in her soon-to-be husband's place. Despite their contrasting personalities to her own, Tabby and Giggles came as well, though thankfully, they like the rest of the attendees wore black, as requested by her and her fiancée. "Only a few more steps…"
Her gaze soon fell upon the few men and several women standing at the altar. All of her sisters had dressed up nicely for the event, with Lily and Lisa acting as the flower girls and Lori standing over the bible. "I never thought she would be qualified to do a wedding…" to her left, his best man stood by, the rings no doubt resting in one of his pockets.
And in the middle of it all, her husband stood, a look of nervousness quickly overtaking him.
"This is all you now, Lucy," Lincoln stopped at the base of the altar and let go, allowing his sister to take the lead, step up and stand at her fiancée's side while he quickly and quietly took his post nearby.
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered her to celebrate one of life's greatest moments and to cherish the words that shall unite Lucy and Edwin in the solemn bonds of matrimony," Lori paused to read from the book, before looking up once more. "Marriage is a promise made between two people that love and trust in both each other and that promise. Who honor each other as individuals and wish to spend the rest of their lives together," she then closed the book, before tucking it under her arm. "This ceremony will not create a bond that does not already exist between you. It is a symbol of how far you both have come and a symbol of the promises you will make to each other: to continuing growing stronger as individuals and partners no matter what challenges you face and that from now on you face them together," she looked upon the bride and groom once more and smiled softly, as if already knowing that Lucy had made the best choice. "And that no matter how much you succeed, you now do it together. The love between you joins you as one! And now, the bride and groom may share some words."
"Oh Edwin, I love you! I have ever since I was a little girl!" Lucy didn't hesitate to start. "And now, to be here with you, why, it's overwhelming!" She leaned close to him. "And I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you!"
The man replied by holding her back ever so slightly. "Oh Lucy, when I first saw you, your beauty captivated me," he looked passed the veil and into her eyes. "Then when we spoke, your words filled me with hope. And now, standing here with you, I find myself filled with something I never thought I would feel again, and I wish naught, but to spend the rest of my eternal life with you."
Lori opened the book once more with that. "Do you, Lucy, take Edwin to be yours in sickness and in health until the day where death, do you part?"
"I do," Lucy didn't hesitate to reply.
"And Edwin, do you take Lucy to be yours, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?"
"I do," the man answered.
"Then by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you, man and wife. You may now kiss the bride," Lori closed the book once more.
And with that, Edwin unveiled Lucy and planted a soft kiss upon her lips, before slowly making his way over planting a soft bite upon her neck. In that moment, she could feel her arms quake and her body tense up, before releasing, allowing her to fall into his arms. "I love you, Edwin."
"I love you too Lucy…
A Few Moments Later…
"It's time to dance!" Luna shouted, before strumming her hard rock guitar.
Of course, Lucy and Edwin were the first to step up to the dance floor, spinning and dancing to their heart's content. Bottles of champagne were opened and laughs were had all around.
And as for Edwin and Lucy, they danced and continued to dance, their eyes not breaking from each other's gaze.
His big, blue, life-filled eyes were more than enough to distract her from everyone else. Their faces and smiles slowly vanishing and turning to dust one-by-one. First it was Lisa, then Luna cutting the music as she disappeared though the duo still continued to dance. Then Leni and Luan, the laughter disappearing along with them. Then Lola and Lana, their adventurous air leaving as they did. Lily and Lori vanished after that, leaving nothing but a pile of wilted flowers in their wake. Lincoln was all that was left, though he too soon turned to dust, causing the hope that had brought her here to vanish as well.
"That was amazing…" Lucy spoke with a soft, hopeful voice.
"As is our life together." Edwin replied.
"I should let everyone else go dance too. I'm sure they'll all want to take pictures of us to celebrate."
"Who?" Edwin raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"My family, your friends. You know, everyone else!" Lucy quickly looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of their numerous visitors. "Uhh… where is everybody?"
"My dear…" Edwin placed his hand on her shoulder. "The wedding was years ago. You seem as if you've seen a ghost however," he leaned in close, his lips brushing over the spot that had granted her immortality.
Suddenly, Lucy felt something in her chest she had long expected to had stopped: her heart beat. Her eyes went wide in shock, prompting her to push Edwin aside and rush out of the grand dining hall. "Lincoln?! Lori?! Lynn?! Anybody?!" Soon after that, she found herself rushing through the castle, kicking in any doors she could find in a desperate search for everyone she had known, yet only finding the castle as melancholy as the day she first step foot into it.
"They're… gone?!" Was all that Lucy could think as she opened the front door and looked out into the dark grey sky above and the barren landscape around them, forever static and forever lifeless.
Just like her life…
In that moment, she remembers fighting her siblings when she was younger, ducking, dodging, pushing and shoving her way for a chance to watch TV with them. She remembers watching as Lori and Bobby got married as well and thenthe large family they worked to create while her own womb remained barren.
Her mind jumped to Lincoln after that. While he never did settle down with Ronnie Anne, they remained close friends. She remembers marveling at the fact just as Stella walked down the aisle with him.
Next, her thoughts fell upon the rest of her sisters. She remembers how they decided to pursue their life's goals, doing sports, science, comedy, music and the like, while she remained static, unchanging in a forever moving world. And as they grew up and settled down, she remembers how it felt as they passed on, one by one. First was Lisa, lost to a failed lab experiment. Then came Luna by drug overdose. Then Leni, then Luan, Lola and Lana followed at the same time. Then it was Lori, then Lily, before her final sibling left her, Lincoln.
And in that moment, she found herself alone, staring out into the nothingness she had never wished for, and all she could do was weep.
Thousands of thoughts began to fill her mind, of the memories of those left behind, and all she could do, was weep.
Soon enough, she found the world around her beginning to melt away, though she wasn't sure if it was from her tears, or from the realization that she wanted to wake up from the nightmare of her life…
"Wake up…" the thought cut across her mind, causing her heart to not only race faster, but lucidity to return to her body. And with a slow blink, she found herself no longer staring at the lifeless landscape, but rather a foggy room, which cleared up as soon as she blinked back to reality. *Sniffle*
Slowly, she pulled herself up. "T-that was a dream? Only a dream?" She immediately brushed her cheek, allowing some of the salty tears to rub off with it. "Lynn?" she looked to her side, hoping that her sporty roommate would come to her aid, only to find her bed empty, much to her dismay. "She must've decided to go bunk with Lincoln again…" she stared ahead in silence, the dream repeating in her mind as she did so. "Everything was so perfect… I don't understand why I'm crying now…" without a single thought, she found herself hopping to her feet and peering into the nighttime hallway. For a moment, she expected a clock to go off and the home to flood with its occupants rushing to the lone bathroom, though a quick check of the clock proved otherwise.
For a moment, Lucy sighed. "Maybe I should… no, Lori's probably still up talking to Bobby again. Leni would be clueless too… Luna would say I'm creepy, and Luan would just make a joke… Lincoln and Lynn are busy, I guess and I can't ask the twins for help…" She slowly stepped out and made her way over to the room right of the linen closet- that of her youngest siblings. "That just leaves…" she took another soft breath. "Lisa, are you in there?"
"Ugh…" the young girl groaned, before Lucy heard her soft footsteps and the door opening, revealing her little sister. "What is it, Lucy? It is two AM."
"Lisa… I need to talk to you about a dream I had…" Lucy clutched her pillow tightly, clinging to it for comfort.
The young girl yawned in response. "Are you sure you require my services for this matter? I am currently in the middle of creating a system that will revolutionize sorting for the world."
"I wanted to try understanding it myself… but I don't think I can…" she looked into the four-year-old's eyes. "Please Lisa, I need you to help me."
"Very well then," she yawned. "Just go lie on my bed and I'll put my week of psychology training to use."
Lucy nodded and complied.
Lisa pulled her desk chair over to the bed and pulled out her notebook. "Start from the beginning now. I need to know exactly what happened."
"It was my wedding day," it took Lucy a moment to answer. "And it was beautiful…"
A Few Minutes After That…
"And that's when I woke up…" Lucy finished with a soft tone.
For a moment, Lisa stared at her notebook, seemingly unsure of how to respond to what she had been told, and yet she simply sighed. Silence overtook the duo with that, as if Lisa was taking her time to pick her words carefully.
"Lucy… I will not lie… I've dreamed of those things too. To have all the time in the universe, all of the googolplex years it would require for the last black holes to die off and the universe to completely cool… to explore, to see and be curious, but…" she closed the notebook and looked out the moonlit window. "Eternity is a long time."
"I don't get it though," Lucy turned away, focusing her gaze on the plain wall next to Lisa's bed. "I had absolutely everything I could have ever wanted! The love of my life, to live as a princess in a castle… to be forever young as a vampire…"
Lisa took another breath. "But… there was something missing, right?"
The young Goth gave a small nod. "Why am I so sad then? It was everything I could have ever hoped for… but I just broke down and cried after leaving Edwin's arms."
For a moment, the young scientist hesitated her next actions, before taking a soft breath. "Lucy, I do not have to worry about you judging my habits and desires, correct?"
She shook her head in response. "Of course not. I will take your secrets to my own grave…" she shivered. "Maybe talking about graves isn't that good of an idea."
"Please… come with me." Lisa hesitated, before standing up straight and motioning for her to follow, and wordlessly the young girl got up and did so. And a few moments later, they climbed out the window and simply stood upon the roof of their homes, the soft sounds of night filling their ears.
The young scientist didn't hesitate to start. "Usually, I come out here when everyone's asleep to simply look up at the stars. I know they're just balls of light gases that produce light from far away, but… I digress."
"You stargaze?" Lucy raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
The scientist gave a small nod. "I do… and I wish not for our siblings to find out. They would probably make jokes about my age in that case."
"Lisa…" the young Goth took a breath. "I doubt they would."
The young girl sighed. "But that is besides the point," she lied down on the hard tile, and motioned for Lucy to do the same.
A soft, silent air overtook them for a moment, before Lucy spoke up once more. "Why do you stargaze?"
"Why do you write poetry?" Lisa countered, her voice filling with a knowing tone. "In the short-term it will not help you much, though I assume it's for a different reason."
Lucy took a breath. "I like to dream you know, about the world outside of our own… what it would be like to be with those boys I see on TV, to meet and spend time with them all…" she looked to her little sister.
"And that is why I stargaze," Lisa smiled at the idea. "A simple reason really… as much as I love to talk about the order of the universe and how everything works, I always found myself second guessing what I know when I look out there. For example, it makes sense that matter attracts matter, but calculations have proven that there just isn't enough matter in the universe to build stars and galaxies. Light is supposed to be the fastest thing there is and yet tachyons exist!" her eyes turned and fell upon her older sister. "A scientist could only wish they had an eternity to try and answer them all…"
"But, what do you see in the stars? Curiosity filled Lucy's voice. "Even if you know everything you could about them, they're still so far away that you'll never be able to reach one in your lifetime."
Lisa moved her hands behind her head. "I know… and yet, I've always found myself imagining if I could. What it would be like to have an eternity to spend, jumping from galaxy to galaxy, from super cluster to super cluster, exploring the known and unknown universe as well as all of the discoveries I would find along the way…" she looked to the side. "At first, I found myself ecstatic to do so…"
"But… eternity's a long time?" Lucy repeated.
She nodded. "Yes, it is…" the young scientist found her gaze looking up, towards a certain bright star directly north of them. "… Lucy… even if you could live forever, who is to say that your family would as well? To live it was well… it was… a nightmare," she paused. By the time I reached Alpha Centauri, I had seen our family turn to dust, while I stayed young, left alone to fend for myself in an unforgiving galaxy," she turned back and looked up at the sky once more. "And I found myself wishing to join them…"
"When you decide on where you want to go… what gets left behind?" Lucy whispered, the realization filling her thoughts. She paused for a moment, hoping to gather her thoughts. "Nothing lasts forever… families age and people leave…"
"And all that's left is you, looking over the barren landscape of the life that you've chosen," Lisa sat up with that. "I'll admit, I once humored the idea of taking a philosophy course, though I put it off as inane dribble."
The Goth's gaze softened upon her sister, before she turned away and leaned back, looking at the stars above. "Maybe… it's better that we can spend it with our family…"
Silence overtook the duo with that.
"Lisa…" Lucy whispered.
"Yes Lucy?" the young scientist replied.
Lucy sat up as well, allowing the soft lights of the nighttime town to fill her eyes. From their rooftop perch, both of them could see the soft lights of what few cars were making their way down I-86, all the way to the dimly light attractions of Dairyland. Across the lake from that, they could see the peaceful Aloha beach. No doubt what few fires that could see still burning came from the late-night parties some would hold in the summer.
"We don't have an eternity though," her voice filled with a soft, sisterly heat.
"If what our dreams have told us, that's a good thing," Lisa didn't hesitate to reply. "To be able to live our lives with a family that cares for us… call me sentimental, but, I prefer living and dying with the people that love us rather than to live forever, alone in a world that I wished not to see."
"I do as well," Lucy spoke with a sincere voice. "Maybe some dreams really shouldn't come true…"
Lisa smiled with that. "I see my words haven't fallen on deaf ears after all, *yawn*. I believe it is time to return to our slumber. It's extremely late and well, I have a lecture to give in the morning."
Lucy smiled as well. "Thank you Lisa, for everything."
She waved her off. "It was no problem, Lucy," she paused. "I may do my best to remain stoic in the face of reality, but… even I know that I have limits."
The duo then looked up to the stars once more, tonight was particularly clear over the town, allowing for an almost completely unobstructed view of the nighttime sky.
"It's just like what a famous person said in a movie then…" Lucy spoke with a calm demeanor while she moved the hair from her eyes. "The stars are beautiful, aren't they? In the future, I could see humanity going out and spreading among them, colonizing and creating new worlds for all life to enjoy… but in the face of eternity, I know that it is not my fate to see it all. Besides, if you're constantly looking for a way to extend your life, you'll forget to spend it with those that matter to you most."
Lisa chose not to respond, finding herself simply nodding along in agreement.
"If you don't mind, Lisa…" Lucy looked into her little sister's eyes with a begging gaze. "Can I sleep with you tonight?" She rubbed her arm in embarrassment. "As much as I like to talk about the darkness about my existence, sometimes even I need a little bit of light to brighten my lonely night…"
Lisa smiled in response. "Of course. Sometimes it is better to spend the night with someone you enjoy the company of, than to continuously work on a random project after all," she takes hold of her older sister's hand and begins to lead the way back. "I don't take up much space either."
And with that, they slept the night away; enjoying it with the family they so loved.
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A/N Some things just never change, huh? I hope you guys enjoyed! I, of course, thank Sesquipedalian Numeral for editing this as well as my friends on the discord for looking this over as I wrote! I'll be around more often, though my study of Chess and college may get in the way. And as always, feel free to PM me, or join the Loud House Fanfiction Discord if you'd like to talk!
Happy birthday MrTyeDye!