Notes: I don't know what possessed me to write this. Just some theorizing on what kind of childhood and life Lilly musta had having been raised by a single parent who was also a politican.
A book rests on a desk..lonely and dust covered now. Thomas blinks in surprise at finding this in one of the guest rooms then shrugs...it must be something one of the guests from that time had left. It's taken awhile, getting to all the rooms they had used. He'd forgotten who had what room. He brushes the dust off the plain cover- a well made if undecorative book. Deep blue in color, but lacking any identifying marks without. He opens to the inner page, hoping to find some clue of whoh it should be returned to..it plainly looked to be a journal of some sort given it's size. It's been a long time since this book was opened however- the pages sticking and clogged with dust- andrather than show just the inner page, the book falls open to the last entry.
"Well," the entry read, in a neat, easy to read hand..entirely too easy. "It looks like this is it. Tomarrow we either stop the lunatic or everything in this area goes up in one massive explosion."
Thomas frowns and pulls the book shut- trying again for the first page..which proves blank. The owner of this book hadn't seen fit to enter their name. Well wasn't THAT grand. He ponders putting the book away somewhere until someone came asking for it..then sighs and looks down at it. Reading the last entry might tell him who it is...and it's not like everyone didn't already know what all was going on then. He wasn't likely to hit anything too personal there, was he?
Selfconsciously, he opens to the last entry again...looking up as if afraid of getting caught..then continuing to read..his frown only returning as he reads further..
"It's kind of funny what things like this can make you wonder. I'm not really sure how I should be acting. Everyone is so "yeah, lets get 'em!" that it's easy to get caught up in it- but when you're alone like this...you really start to think about other things. And all of a sudden..you really don't feel so confident.
"I don't want tomarrow to happen. I'm a selfish girl, I always have been- I want things to be like they've been these past several weeks- is it months now?- since I came here- minus a few things of course. I could really do without all the warring- but all the adventuring has been the most fun I've had in a long time. I even forgot why I came out here in the first place!
"And no..I'm not talking about those stupid rumors about the Firebringer raiding caravans. I knew that was a lie from the start- but it was a pretty handy excuse to get out here and away from home and it kept on being handy after running into Hugo and Sergeant Joe. Perfect excuse to keep traveling with them...but then..well. Everything just kind of kept getting out of hand..
"I went home for a time..well nearly. I had to get more money because I'd gotten careless...something I do alot. Not too surprising.. Come on, you should hear what they call me back home when they think I can't hear. "Spoiled brat", "the girl who has everything", "little rich girl". Kinda funny how facing something like possibly getting blown to tiny pieces by a madman can make you think of all that stuff..
"What do they really know about me? I'm the president's daughter. Yay, go me. And sitting here, I know now more than ever just what that meant. It meant sitting alone in my room while other little girls were playing with their daddies because mine had a meeting to go to. It meant begging daddy to come to my birthday party and sitting there in my room alone again, with a cake I never ate, candles melted all over it because I waited for him to come and he never did- because some kind of crisis had turned up in Dunan and he had to attend. He'd come in the morning and hand me money and a doll and say 'sorry'- then go off somewhere else.
"Well guess what? I hate dolls, and I hate that word. So I never say it. But money was good- I could use it to get something other than those over-frilly dresses people thought the president's daughter was supposed to wear."
Thomas froze, only just now realizing how far he'd read..Lilly's diary. Of all the luck to stumble onto THAT! If she found out, she'd never stop screaming at him until the whole castle collapsed around his ears from it. Just the thought of it makes him wince- and he nearly puts it back... but what he'd seen so far. He bites his lip and looks around the room again..all quiet. He could finish this entry at least..he'd read no other. Wrong as it seemed to have read it at all...it seemed worse to leave it only half read. Besides....after learning of his own father..he'd always wondered about others..
Apparently his was not so unique..
"Once he caught on to what I wanted- all I had to do was say I wanted to spend time with him, and instead he sent someone to fetch something to supposedly distract me and keep me happy- so I'd stay from underfoot. If anyone reads this- take this advice. DON'T do that. Children aren't stupid- and they know when they aren't wanted.
"Then I came out here. I dragged Samus and Reed along...those two are pretty reliable and always jump when daddy says 'frog'. They jump if I even so much as look at them too. It's pretty funny sometimes..at others, I just want to smack them. I'm not REALLY that bad.
"Am I?"
A quiet rustling of paper as he turns the page..just shaking his head. He'd have never expected this of Lilly- she certain seemed loud mouthed and confident enough for thirty people.. but it did explain something. She had to have known once Hugo became the Flame Champion that the Firebringer couldn't have possibly been launching attacks. And she already admitted in this book she had known it for a lie from the start...so she stayed because...?
"I don't think I am...but I don't think anyone else agrees. Or didn't anyway. Hugo's too nice a kid sometimes. He put up with me bullying him around pretty well- and it was..nice to have someone treat me like a person- not like the president's daughter, a little rich girl, or a spoiled brat. I don't think I'll ever have to worry about him agreeing with me just to shut me up. And the Sergeant is much the same. He's never been hesitant to make it plain he's not too thrilled with me.
"But at least he's honest about it. Heh. What a thing to be writing about before going off to save the world or get blown up trying. I don't know if I'm trying to get myself angry so I'll fight even harder tomarrow to win...or if I think I'm going to die tomarrow and I want to be sure someone will know the real me. That's if they can stand the early entries in this. I AM a spoiled little girl..I AM the president's daughter...
"But I'm just "Lilly" too. Maybe one of these days- I'll get to figure out who that is. Just in case I don't- this is the last entry I'm making in this journal. If I die tomarrow- I want someone to read this one of these days and maybe not think so bad of me. If I live..I think I'll still leave it. I'm looking at tomarrow as a total turning point. One way or the other- my life's going to change. So I'll do something vaugely deep and leave my life behind with this...
"Provided I can outrun Samus and Reed. Provided I live tomarrow. This should be interesting. Well, goodbye diary. you've been a good friend these past several years. -Lilly Pendragon"
Thomas closes the diary..then just shakes his head. He'd never really known what to think of Lilly before hand. Now?
".....I hope she ran fast."
He closes the diary and sets it back on the little table Lilly had intended it to be on..but not before looking carefully at the pages. The book wasn't THAT old, they shouldn't be so stuck.
"Aah..I get it...wax." He runs his finger over the pages..feeling the thin wax she must have melted over the edges to try to ensure the book would open to that final entry before all others..then smooths it down. He'll respect Lilly's wishes and leave it here. It just doesn't seem right to put it someplace like the library... and in a way, he was glad to have read it. She had been...rather intimidating really, bossy mannerisms and all. This made it a little easier to understand...if he ever welcomed her to Budehuc again- he'd be able to do it far more sincerely.
He'd just never ever admit to her face to having read that. Many things he might be...but stupid? Definately not one of them. Survival instinct was the strongest urge in nearly all creatures.
~fin~
Well, hope it made sense and didn't bore anyone. Mighta been a li'l OOC for Thomas, but I figured after how his father treated him- he might be a smidge curious about other people's family lives too. Gomen if you think it went too far OOC.