That's three fics done in less than two weeks! I am on a roll!
The alternative title to this story is All The Shades of Love. You'll see why.
Anyway, this is part of the Snowflakes series. For those of you who don't want to go read two 6000+ word one-shots, let me reiterate: (And bare with me)
Maggie, age nine. Two years after Changes. Her class goes on a camping trip in November (Crazy teacher, don't ask). They're attacked by Black Court vampires. The students are terrorized, their teacher is eaten, a student has an arm and shoulder practically torn to shreds and Maggie stands up to them, gets very, very torn up after a small magical accident. Cue Dresden, he drives them off, he becomes a hero to a class of impressionable children and he has them go walking to a phone. Maggie wakes a week later in the hospital, Dresden explains he's her father, the hospital gives her a green light to leave, and since I was too attached to the Beetle, it still exists and Maggie and Mouse get a ride with Dresden. On their way to Michael's, Dresden notices he's being tailed, but an hour and a half drive through the city doesn't lose them, and they do a lunatic run down an icy road in the woods. This entire week, it's been snowing steadily. They think they lost the person, but to be sure, the Beetle gets a coating of an illusion, they go for a walk in the woods, leaving Mouse to guard the car. In the woods, Maggie remembers what happened to dear old mum Susan, gets upset, cue Mavra. Fight scene, then Maggie discovers a splintery stick and tanks Mavra off a two hundred foot cliff and stakes Mavra.
That's just Snowflakes.
Silver Fire is about Dresden trying to figure out what to do: Leave Maggie there, unconscious, in the woods to get help, stay with her and hope she comes round, or, if she's dying, to kill her off himself, or let things happen on their own time. Mouse finally helps in the rescue after an appearance from Toot, Ebenezar and Sanya appear from plot device land, and Maggie gets in an ambulance.
She dies on the way there.
Dresden kick-starts her, she wakes up in the hospital, and here is where everything starts.
Gah, that's a lot of plot. And geez, that's a long author's note!
Disclaimer: I don't own Dresden Files, and the quotes below are in public domain and not part of copyright.
Beauty is a fragile gift.
~Ovid
If there is no struggle, there is no progress.
~Frederick Douglass
I was getting a little too used to waking up in hospitals already.
One eye wouldn't open, my head hurt like hell (Er, heck. Or something that won't make Charity mad), and I couldn't feel my legs.
But my first act of business was to notice that it looked a bit like there was a rabbit on the ceiling and second was to look down at my father's back.
There was something on the floor. He was ill? Dresden? I coughed quietly to get his attention.
"My Buffy imitation needs practice, huh?" I said. There was gauze taped to his cheek. "Do I get points for trying?"
He laughed, ducking his head. Even Murphy grinned.
"Yes Maggie, you do," he said softly. Then he looked at the window, following the path of the moonlight. Then he looked down at paper cup in his hand. "I'm glad you're okay."
I sat up, looking at Murphy as I propped myself on my hands. "Is he usually sappy?" Ow, my back...
"No. Must've hit his head. The Beetle crash?"
I shook my head. "No."
"Then I don't know. How you feeling?"
"Like Hell."
Murphy snorted. "That's obvious, kid. You fell down a cliff. Be specific."
"Like I had a head-on collision with Michael's truck while on my bike again, while simultaneously getting everything below the waist removed. Better?"
"She ran into my truck?"
Michael limped in, a tall black man on one side and an ancient man on the other.
"Yep! Who are you guys?"
"Gets right to the point," said the black man with a thick accent. He smiled slightly.
"You didn't answer my question."
"And you didn't answer mine," countered Michael.
"That's Sanya, and the other one's Ebenezar. He's another wizard." Harry waved his hand at them.
"I'm Maggie! Hi Michael. I've been in the hospital a lot this week, huh?"
"None of those topics are connected," Ebenezar noticed, leaning on a thick wooden staff. I shook my head.
"Sorry. My head isn't working with itself." I rubbed my uncovered eye. Cue nurse.
"Woah, don't do that, honey. It isn't good for your eyes, and you're going to need your remaining one."
"..." I looked up at her, focusing on a curl that had escaped her ponytail. "Remaining?"
"I don't know what you did-"
"I fell off a cliff," I said helpfully.
"But you caused possible mental damage and managed to blind yourself in your left eye, as well end up paralyzed below the waist. And you just got out of here today!"
British accents are good for scolding. I wilted. "'M sorry."
"It's not your fault. It's icy out there, and nobody can reason with madfolk."
"We reason with Dresden all the time," Murphy said. I glared at her.
"I was gonna say that!"
A few disguised snickers as a janitor mopped up Dresden's stomach. Murphy looked at Michael. "So where can I adopt her?"
He shook his head gently. "You'd have to wrestle her from-"
"Margaret Angelica Rodriguez!"
I cowered. "Full name," I whispered.
Charity stood at the foot of the bed, arms crossed. The children in the room cowered with me in fear of the almighty mother.
"What did you do?"
"I...fell off a cliff?"
The nurse yanked a zebra printed curtain around our group, disappearing.
"Whatwere you doing around a cliff?"
"Vampire escape artists?"
That made her pause.
"Mavra was tailing us," Harry managed to mumble.
"Did I ask you?" Charity said, voice dripping venom. "Harry Dresden. If you wish to leave this room through the door and not the window, I would keep your mouth shut."
We all backed up unconsciously, or at least tried to.
"It's true," he whined. Wait, whined?
Charity slapped him upside the head. "In that case, you should have brought her straight home! Faith protect us, Harry, she could have died! And now we've got Mavra-" He was shaking his head. "We don't have Mavra. Explain."
He pointed to me.
I was the subject of ten eyes, one of which was blind.
"So what did you do?" Sanya asked first.
"A poor stake."
It took them a minute to catch the double meaning. Ebenezar was the first to laugh. Even Charity cracked a smile.
"You know, Hoss. This means..."
He nodded. "Council meeting. The Black Court has to sort itself out, which will cause more problems than usual."
"Yep. And..."
Dresden pressed a loose fist to his forehead. "Oh. Great. Do I have to, sir?"
"Not just you, Maggie. Andher class."
He looked at Charity. "Any chance you could put me in the hospital for the council meeting?"
She cracked a few knuckles. "What an appealing idea, Dresden. Hold still."
Charity floored him before anyone could move.
"What is going on here?" The nurse jerked back the curtain as Dresden carefully sat up from where he lay against the floor, holding his unstitched cheek.
"Nothing, ma'am."
She raised a single eyebrow. "You all will bloody well tell me what's going on or I'll remove from this ward until next doomsday!" She looked at all of us. "Which, at this rate, will be this Tuesday."
"I'm betting on Wednesday," Murphy said.
"No, Monday. At five o'clock."
There was nodding and a few sighs.
"Now, you all behave yourselves! I'll be keeping on you all! And shame on you, Mrs. Carpenter! Don't bully those weaker than yourself!"
"He asked for it," Murphy said, leaning on the windowsill.
"I'm sure he did," she said disbelievingly. "If ye going te fight, do it outside! I hae patients te care fer!" Her stolid British accent slipped, leaving a light Scottish burr.
We stared after her as she left.
"Anyone you know, sir?"
"Hoss..." he said warningly.
"At least carry a bottle, so ye hae an excuse!" she added, glaring at us. Sanya waved a flask. "Outside, young man." She reapplied the British accent on the last three words. "There are minors around. Including, I might add, right in front of-Drop it!"
I obediently set down the flask I'd taken from Sanya's grip. I was the given The Look by all adults present.
"What?"
The Look increased.
"That's vodka."
I shrugged.
"You're a minor," Murphy said slowly, enunciating. "You are eleven years short of drinking age."
I looked up at Dresden. "So where can I get a pair of stilts?"
"Sorry, kid, no." But he smirked, ever so slightly.
"I get attacked by a vampire twice and fall off a cliff in less than a week. I think I earned it."
"I think we don't need a drunk patient."
"I think that I'm not that stupid."
"Hit your head hard, didn't you, sunshine?"
"Yeah. What's your point?"
"That you need to shut up, because we're not letting you have vodka."
"Why?"
"Murphy's an ex-cop, did you know?"
I blinked. "So she can leave!"
"Why are you so determined anyway?"
"Because you're arguing." I crossed my arms. Dresden put his hands in his pockets, glaring at the floor. He kicked an invisible item.
"...Stubborn, mule-head b-" Dresden cut himself off. Charity had started giving him The LOOK. Which, by the way, is not the same as The Look. The LOOK has more power and is used on those who are supposedly old enough to know better. Dresden cowered before a woman eight inches shorter than him.
"Right! All of you clear out! Visiting hours are tomorrow, eleven to five! Come back when you can all behave yourselves!" The nurse glared at us all. "And you lie back down! Your spine isn't strong enough yet!"
To grumbling, I lay down and my mob of adults left.
The nurse sighed, bending over me. "Sorry about that, honey. Sometimes, I think adults need a good lesson in maturity."
I started to nod.
"No, don't do that either. It's a jolt, to your neck and head, which, well. I won't bore you. Now." She had rich green eyes. "I'm about to tell you a number of things you won't like, but I want you to promise to listen. Okay?"
I waved a thumbs up in response. I'd had painkillers earlier and I didn't even know it. My arm and shoulders were flaming up.
"You're paralyzed below the waist, you have muscle damage to both shoulders, your left arm and your right leg. I'm surprised you were able to walk on it earlier, but you children do have remarkable healing capabilities. You're blinded in left eye, of which your sight may or may not come back, but don't bet on it. The-Should I stop a moment, honey?"
I looked down at my arm, suddenly noticing the bandages, which I had managed to ignore since I'd woken up. Twisting my head, I looked at a clock on the wall. Nine o'clock, Saturday, which meant it was the twelfth of November. The camping trip had started Monday, and we'd been attacked that night.
Why did it feel like it had happened six years ago, not six days?
I gulped, turned my head to look out the window and became aware of how badly my depth perception sucked.
"It's so strange. I know those trees are far away. I looked at them earlier. But now I can't tell. It looks so...Flat."
"That's because you need two eyes to get depth perception. Are...Do you want me to continue? Or should I tell later?"
I continued to stare. "Go on."
"The blindness is caused by both physical damage to your eye, which seems to have had some sort of burning particles enter it and a splinter of aged bone,"
I blinked my remaining eye. How the hell...
"As well as damage to the visual centers of your brain. Now...I think that's everything drastic. You have minor burns on your hands, but the painkillers should be wearing off now, so you won't notice under all your other pains. Excuse me. I'll go get your medications."
She stood up, leaving me alone.
So I was half-blind, paralyzed and apparently had mental damage.
What the heck happened between Monday and today? Did some god get bored and decide that I was his personal chew toy?
I stared at the ceiling, feeling my upper body building up to large levels of pain, when someone sat up next to me, letting out that sound you hear only when you're restraining a scream and some gets past, leaky tea kettle style. I turned myself, lying on my side.
It was Matthew. He was sitting up, clutching his arm, biting his lip.
"...Hi."
He turned to look at me, then his eyes got wide. "Maggie?" he managed to whisper. I gave him a thumbs up.
"What happened to you?"
I started to shrug and thought better of it. "Stuff. I killed that lead vampire, but I didn't have enough style. Maybe I should get a cape."
He grinned. "Glad you're okay."
"So why are you here?"
"I keep tearing stitches, or I'm screaming in pain. And when I'm not doing that, I'm
"Babbling on about fantasy creatures, claiming that's what attacked us." Mom finally said I should stay here. They've kept me sedated, so my "Mind can sort itself out and be rid of this vampire notion.""
I rolled my eyes. "Adults. Don't know anything."
"I know! I know it was a-" He shut up as the nurse came back, holding a few small yellow prescription med container.
"This, honey, is your medicines. You'll take them three times a day, and the painkiller can be taken up to five times a day, at two or three hour intervals. Now..." She looked at a clipboard. "Sadly, we can't give you a dose today, as you had a surgical procedure to remove that splinter from your eye, and you were given IVs containing painkillers while you were under during the week. Do you think you'll be okay? I can have a nurse sit with you tonight if you need it." She looked so concerned. I shook my head.
"I'm fine. Don't...Don't trouble yourself."
She looked at me, shaking her head. She muttered something, then turned to Matthew. "I don't want you two talking too much. It can reinforce that fairy tale of yours, and we don't need that."
"Yes, ma'am," he said meekly.
She gave him a sad smile. "Go to sleep, Mr. Abbott. Things look better in the morning."
"Good night, Mrs. Brigfield." She handed him a small pill and a wax paper cup. He swallowed it unwillingly, and lay down. She pulled the curtain around his bed, then went around, pulling the curtains around several beds. I watched her work as went around the room, tucking in children, whispering things, handing a small flashlight back into the reach of one who was nearly a teen. She pulled the curtain around that one too, as she opened a thick novel.
Finally, she came back to me. I'd been thinking as she walked. I remember the family that fostered me originally. The Mendolaz were a kind family. They raised me, taught me to speak two languages (Though it took me coming here to learn to read something other than spanish) and helped me through the matter of my mother, treating me like any of their other four children.
And I remember they always said "She'll be a beauty, one day. Just wait and see."
But would that still be true? I would have scars after this, and I'd be stuck in a wheelchair. I wanted to think that what they told my mother would be true.
The nurse rolled me back onto my back.
"You okay, honey?"
"Am I still pretty?" I blurted. She gave me a kind smile that I knew I was going to rapidly become familiar with, setting a triangular pillow behind me to elevate me.
"That depends on your opinion of pretty. That's one of those things where the opinion changes all the time."
"...I look horrible, don't I?"
She shook her head.
"And don't say true beauty is on the inside, because nobody looks there. Not till you die and the coron-person slices you open."
That smile was there. "You'll be fine. You look pretty enough for a gal in a hospital, and scars heal in time. But for now, you should be proud of them."
There was still a rabbit on the ceiling, despite the lights being out. I watched it, trying to make it appear less flat.
"What's beauty supposed to be an'way?"
"It's..." There was the soft whisper of fabric as she sat. "It's something that the world admires in a set of people, and often wants to have themselves. Or it's something that makes you feel glad, happy. Something that the sight of might make you upset because you can't change yourself enough to get, or happy just because it exists." She paused. "It's a rainbow, in a way. There are shades of beauty. I guess it's a lot like love, when you get down to it."
She was silent for a time, so I risked tilting my head. She was looking out the window, watching the sky. Then, slowly, she stood, tucked in the sheet around me, and walked away.
If beauty was something that made you happy, then I guess me being alive, after all this week had tossed to me, was beauty. Matthew was still alive too, not turned into those creatures, with all his limbs and most of his skin.
The first shade of beauty. Living through hardship.
I love my little explanation of what beauty is! It's...Well, inspiring.
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