AN: Ok, so. I know it's been seven months since I've updated this fic, but that will be changing soon! I've actually completely finished writing this fic, so it'll be posted over the next month. I hope you guys all enjoy! :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Carmilla.

If Mircalla was to be honest with herself, she had no idea why she had allowed some of the servants to convince her in joining them for a walk through the forest. She had a ball to go to, to get ready for- she was eighteen and this was the perfect chance to present herself as the woman she was to high society.

She might have been willing to spend her mornings playing around when she was younger, still a child, but tonight, if she was picking up on her mother's hints properly, was the night she was supposed to be introduced to her intended, and she couldn't meet him covered in dirt with leaves in her hair.

But somehow they had convinced her to join them. Convinced her to join them in that clearing she had used to play in when she had been younger, to enjoy the sun and fresh air for a while before she was locked away for the hours it would take to prepare.

She had enjoyed the sun, for what it was worth, but the constant chatter had quickly gotten on her nerves, driving her down the path she hadn't walked since she was ten. It was a mindless wander, the noises of the servants and maids quickly fading, leaving only the birds and whispering leaves. An almost silence she could enjoy as she walked down the dappled road, chills running down her arms as the constant change from sun to shadow played with her skin.

She hummed as she walked, an old lullaby her nurse maid had sung her to sleep with, and it wasn't until she found herself pausing at the familiar bend that she stopped to curse herself for being convinced to come.

Even after eight years, she hadn't been able to get the daydream of the little pixie girl out of her head, a fond memory she almost hated herself for.

But even that small bit of self-hatred, for allowing herself to believe such a ridiculous fairytale when she was old enough to know the difference between reality and stories, wasn't enough to keep her on the path this time. For maybe, just maybe, she'd be able to find the tree this time and put everything to rest.

She found herself whispering half remembered words as she walked, her finger tips trailing over wild plants as she named them in between partial lessons on the differences between magical creatures, taunting herself with the stories. If she was smart she would have turned around, rolling her eyes at her younger self and gone back to the maids and servants, pressing down her annoyance with them for the last hour she had before preparations for the ball began.

But still she pressed on, only coming to a halt when, in the middle of a small clearing, a tree almost twice her size appeared to greet her.

"I told you I'd get big one day. Though I was kind of hoping you'd be around more to watch."

"What the-" Turning on her heel, Mircalla almost fell and would have if not for a pair of arms wrapping around her middle, pulling her close into an overly warm body, a warmth that quickly disappeared as she regained her balance. Forcing down the trembling shock she could feel trying to spread through her, Mircalla stared the floating, slightly glowing being in the eye and waited, too stunned to say anything.

"Are you okay, Mircalla," Laura asked, her wings twitching agitatedly as she reached back out towards the other woman before pulling away, torn between where the lines she was allowed to cross were. "I'm sorry I startled you, I was just really happy to see you in the forest again but then I got angry which is why I didn't say anything earlier and I just-"

"You're real," Mircalla interrupted, stepping forward to brush her fingers against Laura's cheek, her hand trembling slightly until Laura steadied it with her own. "I've thought for all these years you were just in my imagination, just a pretty little dream I had when I fell asleep out here once. But you're actually real?"

Much like herself, Laura had grown. While still soft, it was a woman staring back at her, no longer the little girl she had kept a secret memory of for so long. There was just enough of a hint of her to make the connection between past and present clear, just enough to make it clear that yes, this was the same pixie she had met all those years ago, but still it was strange.

As strange as finding out a secret, made up friend actually was real as could be.

"I'm magical, Mircalla," Laura laughed, leaning into the touch, "not mythical. I'm as real as you and my tree are. Which you would have known, if you had ever come back to see me." Her smile quickly faded, an almost wounded look replacing it.

An old hurt, clearly, but still one that stung.

"I did," Mircalla protested, pulling away and settling herself down on a patch of grass the shade of Laura's tree couldn't reach, spreading her skirts out so she was comfortable. "It took me months to make my parents see sense, but I did return. I called for you for hours, until it became too cold for me to continue, but you never came. What else was I supposed to think?"

"Cold," Laura asked, reaching up to scratch at one of her ears- which were pointed at the tip, Mircalla noticed, the detail having missed her before. "Was it perhaps winter when you came to find me?"

"Yes."

"You, Mircalla, are a very silly creature," Laura laughed lowly, shaking her head, her hair falling across her features to partly hide her face. "The whole world sleeps during winter. What makes you think trees are any different? And if the trees sleep, so do the creatures reliant on them."

Her face flushing a brilliant red, Mircalla opened her mouth to respond, to point out that Laura was the first magical creature she had met, and when only part of the world slept- for there were plenty of animals besides humans who spent the winter awake- how was she supposed to know any better?

She opened her mouth to speak, but the sounds of the maids calling her once again forced her to stop, to glance up at the sky and force down the sharp spike of panic as she realized just how late it had gotten. Pushing herself to her feet, Mircalla brushed off the pieces of grass from her dress, holding out a hand to Laura when she was done.

Once again, the warmth surprised her, though only for as long as it took her to draw Laura into a hug, burying her face into Laura's neck as she did so.

"I'll come back tomorrow," Mircalla said softly, relaxing as Laura returned the embrace, holding her friend close. "Tomorrow afternoon, at the latest. And we can continue this then, alright?"

"Sounds like a plan," Laura said, pulling away and tucking one of Mircalla's curls behind her ear. "Make sure you keep this promise this time."

Waving over her shoulder as she pushed her way through the brush, Mircalla smiled and nodded, promising with everything but words that she would.

The entire ball, even as she spent the night dancing in the arms of the suitors she was sure her parents would choose from- nice young men, all of them, ones that would make good, if boring, husbands- Mircalla imagined her return to the forest. Now that she knew Laura was real, that her friend was true instead of just an image left over from a dream, years would have to be made up for. Years of questions and stories, tales that had to be explained and myths clarified, everything she had been keeping in since she had first met the pixie.

All through the night, from foxtrot to waltz, Mircalla imagined the forest.

She only stopped when she stepped out into the night for some fresh air.

It was four winters before Laura stopped looking for her, stopped waiting for that young woman to return to the forest. Four blistering summers spent begging for rain to keep her tree alive. Four falls and four springs, all spent waiting.

It took four years, but eventually, Laura gave up on Mircalla and moved on.