This is for StarFire, I think the username is. StarFire is a reader of mine. Their friend requested a one-shot because StarFire is having surgery. I just wanted you to know I stand behind you, as do tons of other people. Sorry if you don't like it!
Kendra stiffens even further as Bracken claps a hand loudly on her shoulder. His fingers halt her fuming march, freezing her in place. Those nails dig into her skin uncomfortably, his tenseness illustrated in the strength of his grip.
"Kendra –," Bracken growls, tone laced with anger.
"I've had enough, Bracken," Kendra snaps, slapping his hand off. He recoils. Swirling around to face the unicorn, Kendra almost finds it hard to meet his beautiful silvery blue eyes. The hurt is intermingled strongly with mounting irritation, and, furrowing his brow in poorly concealed ire, Bracken crosses his arms over his muscular chest.
The sunlight sparkles through the emerald trees like a scene straight out of a movie. Every now and then, a breeze will shake through the leaves, sending a snakelike hiss through the forests of Fablehaven. Fairies drift through the air, apparently deciding better than to descend upon Bracken at this exact moment. The air smells faintly of the spring weather, and the sky is cloudless and blue. The clear color painted across the endless heavens only accents the sapphire undercurrent in Bracken's eyes. Behind him, the pond water glitters like a thousand diamonds racing across the surface. The sunlight glints off the white wood forming the neat gazebos. It seems like too perfect a day to have such a bitter disagreement.
"What is wrong?" Bracken demands with his deep melodic voice, the fire in his eyes darkening the lovely shade of silvery blue into grey. "You're just marching off, Kendra, and the stars know I'm sick of it!"
"You?" Kendra can barely choke that sentence out. "You're sick of it? Bracken, you don't know the meaning of the word! I'll tell you what, Unicorn" – he winces at the term usually used endearingly – "I am so over your little rants. You start talking, and then you don't stop. La di da di da, it's so annoying."
Bracken tilts his head mockingly. "So, you're causing a big fuss about a habit? That's very much like you."
"Shut up," growls Kendra, her fists clenching. The long grass swirls around her feet. "Not solely, no. You're also overly protective. If it were up to you, I wouldn't even tie shoelaces myself."
"I don't see how wanting you safe is a minus," points out Bracken.
"Maybe," allows Kendra, "but I'm sick of it. I've tried to politely hint at it, but, apparently, horses don't get polite."
Bracken snorts. "Unicorns practically invented polite. You've obviously never been to the Fairy Realm. I chose on purpose to ignore those hints, thinking that you wouldn't be shallow enough to let it rub you the wrong way. Apparently, I was wrong."
Kendra bristles. "I wasn't finished, you dolt. You really are just a farm animal with a rhino horn. Another thing that you apparently can't comprehend is privacy."
"Oh?" challenges Bracken icily, the tendons on his neck standing out. "How so?"
"Going around reading everybody's minds." Kendra tilts her head up so she can look Bracken in the eye. "Do you really think people like you just invading their thoughts? They like you rifling through their memories? My god, Bracken, I hate it, and I know I'm not the only one. You have no concept of what is off limits."
"I don't know what's off limits," scoffs Bracken angrily. "I don't. Oh, sure. That's totally the case. Absolutely what happens."
Kendra cocks her head, narrowing her eyes dangerously. A fire flames to life in the pit of her stomach. "What's your side of the story, then? Do tell, I'm oh-so curious."
Bracken's voice is cool and flat, and every word hits Kendra like a barbed arrow. "You, Kendra, cannot be judged by your cover. On the outside, you seem like a lovely young girl with a bubbly attitude and a smile constantly on your heart. And for that reason, you are the greatest conman or woman I have ever stumbled across. You preach principles but do not follow them. You are the poster-child of hypocrisy.
"Might I add that you have no wishes to expand your horizons whatsoever. I have tried and tried, and yet still you remain indifferent to the world I would've liked to offer you. You have repeatedly insulted me and everything I stand for. You are jealous and spiteful to any other female you meet. I do not ask for much respect, but recently you have been treating me with none at all. Shall I go on?"
"I have a feeling you're going to." It's hard for Kendra to keep her voice steady as Bracken names all of the things she's feared of herself becoming.
"You are reckless," continues Bracken, silver eyes gleaming. "You are silly. You are so naïve that at times it physically pains me. You do not know how to work in society. You cannot wield a sword, and cannot even assist those you love most of all. True, you may have a charming smile, but your personality could never be described as something as innocent as 'charming.' I am ashamed to even claim friendship with such atrociousness, never mind the fact that I loved you."
Kendra's heart squeezes so bad she can hardly breathe, picking up on the past tense. Her pulse is weak and fluttery. Tears prickle at the corner of her eyes. Recoiling as if she'd been punched, Kendra stares at Bracken in blatant horror. She stands there in shock for a long minute, and then another, and then another. Wind plays with her hair, but her gaze is still locked on his.
Slowly, realization creeps into Bracken's eyes as he relives his statements. His mouth opens in an O of recognition, and repentance is clear across his features. Bracken takes half a step forward and holds out a hand, his choppy silver locks falling into his face. "Kendra –"
Kendra doesn't allow him to continue. She steps forward and slaps him across the jaw, shoving force into the blow. The smack of her hand against his cheek rings through the meadow, and the fairies above pause. Kendra's hand tingles from the strength she'd placed into the slap. Bracken stumbles backwards, touching one hand to his cheek and looking at Kendra with appalled shock. Already, a red outline of her hand is clouding his pale features.
Grinding her teeth, Kendra turns on heel. Tears blur her vision. She shoves roughly past Bracken, storming towards the pond's gazebos. Emotions form an awful lump in her throat, making it impossible to swallow. Her walk is unsteady and crooked as she trips over the uneven ground.
"We are so done, Bracken," she cries, not even bothering to turn around as she thunders towards the gazebo.
To her misery, Bracken doesn't even bother to respond.
The leaves of the hedges lining the clearing tickle Bracken's face as he leans a little more into their embrace. The darkness created by the tightly packed leaves makes it impossible for Kendra to see him if she happened to look back, not that she ever does.
Some part of Bracken wants to wrap his arms around Kendra as she sobs. Some part of Bracken wants to wipe the tears from her eyes. Some little voice in his head urges him to go to her, to console the distraught fairykind, to hold her in his arms.
But most of Bracken wants her to cry harder. She had stepped all over him, and he had retaliated in kind. She deserves to cry. An icy casket seals his heart, and Bracken is convinced that it will never be Kendra's again. She had hurt him as well.
But quite so awfully…?
Bracken can't help reflecting on the incident. Kendra had hurt him with jabs, yes. She had unsettled him. It has been difficult, accepting that there were things about him that Kendra didn't necessarily enjoy, especially when compared to his unabridged adoration. But she had only used petty insults, and only at Bracken's insistence.
However, Bracken did not do the same. Kendra only has access to what Bracken tells her, what he shows her, and what she can infer. Bracken can peer at her thoughts and memories. He knows her deepest fears. He knows who she is, through and through. Finding anything to hurt her with had been difficult, so Bracken is ashamed to say that he used a few of her fears against Kendra.
Now that Bracken sees his crimes in the light of day as Kendra leans on the gazebo post and sobs, the guilt only grows. Tears streak down her tan cheeks, and her disheveled brown hair is used like a curtain instead of the beautiful hairdo she'd put it up in. With a sigh, he buries his head in his hands.
Throughout the years, Bracken has seen love so many times. The way his father would look at his mother when she was scolding Bracken as a child. The naked admiration couples had for one another, even in ancient times. It'd always fascinated him, but he'd never really believed that he would find anything like those lucky people. How wrong he could've been. And now… now Bracken in on the brink of losing it.
But he doesn't know how to get it back.
Kendra's throat is sore from crying. It hurts every time she swallows. Her eyes are itchy and raw. As she kneels down to pick up rocks, her hands shake. The coolness of the stones is gentle against her sweltering fingertips. Occasionally, as the rock hits the water, a splash with land on her.
Kendra alters the position of the rock and lets it fly like a heavy discus. A year ago, Seth had taught her how to skip rocks. She's never been really good at it, but, as she continuously picks the banks for suitable stones, she finds her accuracy and aim bettering every throw.
Her eyes search the bank for another stone. There aren't a lot of rocks here in the first place, never mind skipping stones. She's seen a few good ones half-submerged in the pond, but Kendra doesn't dare stray too close to the edge of the perilous water.
Every so often, a hand will shoot out of the water and grab a stone before it can complete its journey. Kendra wonders if the naiads have a treasury of rocks they'd stolen from innocent rock-skippers. At least naiads aren't as deceitful as unicorns.
At that thought, Kendra hurls one stone out into the water at impressive velocity. It doesn't skip, just hits the pond with a large splash. Kendra grinds her teeth and searches for another stone. That'd been a perfect one, just wasted. She leans down and pries another from the stand, brushing off a few of the particles with one hand.
Stupid unicorns. Stupid, stupid unicorns.
Kendra really is not sure if that's appropriate thoughts to be having not even a mile from the Fairy Queen's shrine resting in the center of the pond, but she can't help it.
She also can't help wondering if Bracken's rude accusations are true. You are naive. That... that's probably true. Misery drags her down. Isn't she the stupid one? She's the one asking the retarded questions all the time. She'd been the one to trust a Demon Prince. Heck, she'd crushed on a Demon Prince.
You are jealous and spiteful. That's not true, right? Kendra tries to be polite to everyone she meets, even to the ones who practically slaver over Bracken. Is it possible that she was bitter anyway, despite her best interests? Could she have been a brat?
Stupid unicorns. Stupid, stupid unicorns.
What hurts most of all is his last statement: I am ashamed to even claim friendship with such atrociousness, never mind the fact that I loved you. His exact words ring in Kendra's memory like a bullet's roar. Is she really so disgusting to him? She'd made a couple of cheap shots, sure, but not anything so severe. Apparently, it'd been severe to him.
Kendra ambles a bit closer to the edge of the sparkling water. It's a bit deeper here as she nears one of the picturesque gazebos overhanding the pond, so deep that she can't see the bottom. There's only a few stones and none of them look very promising. At least, that's what she thinks, until Kendra spots a grey rock almost underneath the fancy wooden structure. With a grin, she shuffles forward.
Kendra doesn't even think about her footfalls until one of her feet clips a stone. With a yelp of surprise, she trips forward. Kendra teeters dangerously close to the water, her arms flailing. Panic blooms in her heart as the blue pond cycles dangerously close. One of her locks of hair falls into her face.
Dizzyingly, Kendra catches her balance, hanging precariously over the water. Releasing a relieved breath, she closes her eyes and calms her pounding heartbeat. Opening her eyes, she begins to pull back.
A hand shoots from the water and grabs Kendra's ankle in a starburst of shimmering droplets. Kendra recoils and screams at the top of her lungs as the webbed fingers latch into her leg and begin to pull her out to the water. The strength in the naiad's muscles jerks Kendra's leg, slamming her onto her back. Wind knocked out of her, Kendra makes a noise that probably would've been an unholy shriek.
Fighting desperately, Kendra kicks against the hand. She rises to an awkward kneel, gasping for breath, and slams her foot repeatedly into the pale, slimy arm. The naiad's grip remains strong around her leg. From the water, Kendra can see two glowing purple eyes staring up at her. Gulping down air, Kendra cries out and slams the sole of her foot into the naiad's face.
Another arm lunges from the water. Two hands grab the arm closest to the bank, from the same naiad. She hangs over the pond, suspended by the last of the strength in Kendra's limb. Baring long, pointed teeth, the naiad snarls. Her milky green skin is grotesque and slippery, and her wet hair looks like something from a horror movie.
Kendra screams as it drags her to the water, unable to sustain the weight of two naiads dragging her in. As a last attempt, she swings around her fist at the naiad dangling from her arm like a leech, but the she devil just dodges. She bares her teeth and hisses like a sea serpent, grinning with pleasure.
A single tear slips from Kendra's eye as she loses her balance. That's the end of that, she thinks. What a way to go.
A hissing noise whips through the air, and something flies by Kendra's face. The naiad clutching Kendra's wrist makes an awful wailing noise, recoiling and holding her arm to her chest. Impaling her slender forearm is a silver blade with a pearly handle, sunken in all the way to the hilt. Blue blood oozes around the perfect metal dagger. The naiad falls back into the water with a splash.
With a furious roar, Bracken bursts upon the scene. Bloodlust shines in his silver eyes. Bracken lunges forward and grabs the wrist of the naiad attached to Kendra's leg. He drags it out of the water with a furious heave of his flexing muscles, pulling the shrieking demon on land. Kendra scrabbles backwards. Her breath comes out in uneven pants, and her vision is unfocused at best.
Bracken grabs the throat of the struggling naiad in one trembling hand. He closes it like a vise around her neck, using it solely to lift the girl up. She gasps for air, clawing at his hands as he holds her up until she blocks the sunlight from falling across Kendra. Those lavender eyes are terrified.
Bracken doesn't say anything, but releases a powerful roar. Kendra swears the ground shakes a little. The sound of his furious voice bellowing out in an unsaid message gives Kendra the strength to roll her head up. With a guttural noise of disgust, Bracken tosses the naiad back like a fisherman throwing back an undesirable catch. It lands with a noisy splash, disappearing as soon as it hits the surface.
With the sunlight behind him, Bracken is a god. The wind rushes around the clearing, ruffling his gleaming silver hair. A line of sweat traces down the back of his white t-shirt. Each ragged breath shakes his entire form, heaving his shoulders up and down. Slowly, he slumps from a position of taut battle to flexible worry.
Whipping his head around, Bracken turn to face Kendra, his platinum eyes glowing with anxiety as they fix on her. His silvery eyebrows are scrunched in heart-rending concern. The sweat beginning to bead on his forehead shines in the sunlight. His entire face softens to an expression of an unnamed emotion that makes Kendra's already queasy stomach to do flip flops as she gasps for breath. A tear slips down her cheek.
"Bracken," Kendra sobs. She tries to throw herself to her feet, but struggles despite her intentions to worm off the ground. "Oh, god, Bracken…"
Bracken kneels down beside her and wraps his arms around Kendra's torso in a tight hug in one fluid motion. He buries his head into her hair, clutching Kendra almost roughly to his chest as Bracken begins to rock her like a father rocking his baby to sleep. Kendra gulps down even more air, but twines her hands through Bracken's silky silver hair. She clutches him to her nearly as tightly as he does to him. His unsteady breath swirls through Kendra's long hair, and with every inhalation, a shudder runs through his body.
"Kendra," Bracken whispers, his tone so filled with emotion Kendra doesn't know if she should cry or laugh. "Kendra. I thought – I thought I was going to lose you, Kendra. I thought – the way those filthy naiads had you – I thought…."
Kendra's heart tightens. She shuts her eyes to stem the flood of tears. Stiffening against Bracken, she mumbles, "You thought that the little fairykind twit would be gone for good."
"Oh, Kendra." Bracken pulls back to look into her eyes intensely. He sweeps her head onto his lap, cradling her gently. One hand brushes the hair from her face, lingering along her cheekbone. "Kendra, I am so sorry. I could apologize for a thousand years and still I would need to apologize for a thousand years more. But ask yourself this: if I no longer loved you, would I have reacted in the way I did?"
Kendra hesitates. She replays the action of the moment, the fury in Bracken's eyes and the unforgiving malice in his given punishments. "The naiads have your first horn," observes Kendra thoughtfully.
Bracken's body rumbles with a chuckle. "Yes, I suppose they do. But I'll get it back, especially after that display." His hand strokes her cheek tenderly. "I must admit, I do think it was a bit strong of a demonstration of my might. They would've settled for something much less flashy."
Kendra sobers up. "If you hadn't been here, Bracken," she says quietly, "I would be dead right now, lying at the bottom of the lake to rot away with the fishes. I'm glad you were 'flashy', because I was terrified."
Bracken swoops down and presses his lips to Kendra's in a firm kiss. It's not really a passionate sort of thing like a few of their other interactions had been, but sweet and comforting. She's alive, he's alive, and they both have one another other. When Bracken pulls away, there's a note of satisfaction in his silvery irises. Kendra's hand massages the side of his face gently.
"Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?" he wonders aloud, stroking her hair.
Kendra smiles up at him. "Yes, I do believe I have."
"Do you want me to tell you again?"
"That sounds perfect." And she really meant it.
D'awww. Cute.
Please review, I love reviews! Tell me, StarFire, if I did what you wanted. Funny story: last night I actually was so stressed about getting this right that I had a dream where all the bloggers and vloggers and reviewers were attacking me because it was so wrong.
If you liked this, please check out my other Fablehaven fanfictions, Time and Time Again and Jumping at Shadows! You'll have to straggle a bit through the first one, but please, do read!
Ciao,
~wolfluvermh