Shadows, a keeper of the lost cities fanfic

This is not Stairs that Lead to Nowhere.

I know.

It should be.

But it's not.

Cuz I got lazy.

But the song's Shadows by Sabrina Carpenter.

Just so you know.

We all got nightmares in our dreams
We look for someone to believe in us

And show us the way
And make it okay
The world can be dangerous

Dangerous…

There she was. There she was. Her bright purple dress might have been too short and low-cut for Grady's liking, and the engagement ring on her finger might have almost brought Edaline to tears, but she was there.

Jolie.

She had been away too long, studying in the Silver Tower, and Edaline told her that as she stroked her daughter's hair and hugged her. Jolie looked worried. Her eyes flashed from place to place on Havenfield's property, as if she was expecting someone to jump out of the bushes or from behind the T. Rex pasture, but the grand, sloping yard was as silent as ever. Her cheeks were hollowed, and there were dark circles under her eyes, but it didn't seem to matter as she hugged her parents. "Mom. Dad. It's good to be home."

They were both too happy to see their daughter again to question why she wouldn't talk about the upcoming wedding, or why she was so antsy while Edaline baked ripplefluffs and set out bowls of Indigoobers, but they frowned when she excused herself and rushed upstairs to her old room.
There's something so rare in your veins
Not a single thing I would change
And oh, if you only knew how I see you
Would you come alive again, alive again?

She'd held off the tears for this long.

Jolie stood in that room, too bright and frilly and happy for what she felt on the inside, the numbing pain that made her cold and sharp to her parents and friends and made her stray away from her soon-to-be-husband and turn toward the people he called enemies. She sat, with the tears running down her face, madly finishing off the last of the notebook with the mirror compact. She kneeled in front of the wall, prying off the glass and replacing it with the mirrored box from the Black Swan. She couldn't look Vertina in the eye as she gave her last instructions to the little glass figure.

She looked out over the beautiful sunset as she called her Swan Song.

I, I need you to understand

I don't mind your shadows
Cause they disappear in the light
I don't mind your shadows
Cause they look a lot like mine
And listen to me, it's okay

To be afraid
Just walk like you're never alone
I don't mind your shadows, your shadows
Baby, I don't

"Brant."

No matter how many times she called, he wouldn't answer the crystal door. He wouldn't let her inside his glittering house.

So she shoved her way inside, the same way he had shoved the icy shards of hurt into her heart.

"Brant."

She repeated it, her own little mantra, as she climbed the cold glass staircase. The house seemed empty, silent, dark. Her Imparter buzzed, but she kept going, too focused on her true love to be encumbered by distractions. She felt stripped away, no longer a true part of this world of glittering palaces and secret organizations and words that didn't speak truth.

Of people who hid behind lies.

"Brant."

"Brant!"

Pictures in our head of what we're supposed to be
Measuring ourselves, but where is the love?
Where is the love?
The world got us wondering, wondering…

He was here.

He was always here.

Hiding behind his own falsery.

"Why would you do this to me?"

Startled, he dropped his Imparter.

"Jolie, you…It's not what it—"

He was wearing it.

Even here.

Even now.

That disgusting eye.

And even after he turned, his handsome features crinkling into a frown, she knew there was a piece she still didn't have.

"What is it? Where is it?"

He looked so helpless.

"What are you talking about?"

"Your Project Moonlark. Whatever you've been working on. What is it?"

He stepped closer.

"Jolie, I'm sorry…"

There was fire in his hand.

Fire.

The word rang in her head, the light burned into her eyes.

What her parents had warned her of before she'd started dating Brant.

Fire.

There were tears running down his face, but he took another step.

"I need you to leave, Jolie, I can't tell you. I only know bits and pieces—"

She charged toward him.

I, I need you to understand

That I don't mind your shadows
Cause they disappear in the light
And I don't mind your shadows
Cause they look a lot like mine
And listen to me, it's okay to be afraid
Just walk like you're never alone
And I don't mind your shadows, your shadows
Baby, I don't

"Just tell me."

He didn't look helpless anymore.

He looked angry.

"Fine," he snapped.

"Lodestar Initiative.

Gisela Sencen's unborn son.

Project Moonlark's end."

She clung to each word like a life raft in the sea, like a trickle of water in the driest desert.

And as he got closer, she sent out one last hope that everything would work.

The Foster family.

Vertina's secret.

The notebook in the mirror.

And all these voices in our head
Well they keep screamin' louder and louder
But they won't pull us under

Baby, I don't mind your shadows
Cause they disappear in the light
And I don't mind your shadows
Cause they look a lot like mine
And listen to me, it's okay to be afraid
Just walk like you're never alone
And I don't mind your shadows, your shadows
Baby, I don't.

Because the Black Swan had shadows.

And they were so, so similar to the Neverseen's.

So she hoped upon hope upon hope

That her daughter

Her Project Moonlark

Would find her way to the shore

And fly.

Yes.

I know.

MR FORKLE SAID THAT JOLIE WASN'T HER MOM!

But he didn't actually.

He said that she 'wasn't really connected.'

Or along those lines.

Which could mean that she just didn't tweak her genes.

But c'mon.

WOULDN'T THAT JUST BE MAGNIFICENT?

Well, anyway, I think it would.

Xoxo,

Alder3049