The doctor left…
The doctor left…
Left…
Five-year-old Bella Rubel sniffed as she tried to keep the tears in. Her little hands, pale and a little scarred, fisted at her hides as she tried to stop trembling.
"Okay, let's see what you've got, kid." Said the man laying on the hospital bed.
They looked so different.
He was tall, tanned, with coffee eyes and wild turquoise hair with black roots.
She was pale with small scars on her arms and legs, sandy hair and bright amber eyes.
"Come on Bell-Bell." Teddy urged again.
A sob escaped her mouth. Tears started pouring down her cheeks. She tried to force her legs forward. To grab onto him, to yell, to cry, to apologize, she wasn't sure.
Her legs didn't move an inch.
Teddy raised a hand towards her slowly, the movement looking pained. The guilt in his eyes made more tears flow down her cheeks.
"I need you to be stronger."
Bella took a shaking breath. Then another.
It's not fair.
It's not fair.
It's not fair.
Her small feet finally started moving.
His hand grabbed hers and she collapsed on the floor near the edge of the bed. He didn't let go of her hands, his thumb circled the silver bracelet on her left wrist.
Her eyes accidentally fell on the papers on the other side of the small bed. The ones the doctor left.
She didn't have to read them to know what they stated.
Theodor Rubel
32 years old
Placed in foster care at 11…
Foster father…
Lung cancer…
Teddy didn't turn around to move the papers.
He couldn't. Bella knew he would have done it otherwise. He would have done it for her.
Instead he waited until their eyes finally met again and started talking.
"Who are you?" he said, like he was asking about the weather.
She already screamed at the doctors and the nurses and all the people from the Social Services.
She was done.
Teddy squeezed her hand a little in warning. His eyes were starting to look glazed.
"Who are you?" he tried again.
She took another shaking breath.
"I-I'm Bella R-Rubel…"
Teddy squeezed her hand again, this time managing to look a little annoyed.
She gulped.
"I'm Bella A-Artemis Rubel."
"What did I tell you about the names?"
Her breaths started coming easier.
'It's normal. It's fine.' She thought, trying to fool herself.
He quizzed her like this all the time. About everything. So, she could be ready when…
"Accept all the names exactly as you accept every single part of yourself…"
"Because…" Teddy urged again.
"Because – Because otherwise it's like you're trying to build a house, but you refuse the tools to help you. And by the time you realize how much you needed them – "
"- somebody else comes and builds his own house in your spot instead." He finished.
He gave her another moment to compose herself.
"Who do you trust?"
"Myself." She said biting her natural blood red lips.
"Anyone else?"
"…You."
Teddy stopped for a moment to take her in. His deathly pale lips tugging into a small smirk. He nodded like 'Fair enough.'
"Anyone else?"
"No."
"You sure?"
"Yes."
"What should you do?"
"When?" she asked.
"Whenever."
Bella took a moment to think of the question.
"Whatever I think is right."
"How would you know what's right?" he asked her.
"Trust my instincts and try to make the best decision I could."
"And if you make a bad decision?"
"I'll remember it, assume it, deny it – "she said and Trubel chuckled. "- and try not to do it again… Or in the nearby future." Bella finished and they both chuckled.
"What if you fall?"
"I get up."
"What if you can't get up?" he pressed.
"I'll get up."
"You sure?"
"Yes."
"What do you do if someone takes you down?"
"I won't let them."
"Promise?"
"Promise." She said and Teddy nodded as he tried to hide the little trembling in his hand.
"What do you do if someone tells you to do something?"
"Refuse unless it's actually sensible?"
"That's my girl!" Trubel praised as they giggled at one another.
"…Teddy?"
"Yeah?" he asked trying to fake his usual charming smile. Trying to look like he didn't hear the tremor in her voice. Her voice that had been getting smaller and smaller since the doctors wouldn't let him leave the hospital anymore. Since the two of them couldn't pretend everything was fine anymore. That they still had time.
Vulnerable and so unlike the little ball of energy that had been trailing him everywhere for the past four years.
The smile probably looked like a grimaced especially now with his new almost grey skin tone.
"… I'm scared..."
He sighed.
"I know." Trubel said, trying to control his own tears.
He should have prepared her better. He taught her how to speak Romanian, at least enough to be able to hold a conversation with a stranger. He taught her self-defense. How to protect herself. How, when and where to strike back. He showed her what to look for in order to decide if someone was lying. How to pick-pocked, what, where, when, from whom and under what circumstances.
How to lose someone in a crowd or on the streets. How to make someone give her all the candy on Halloween just by using 'those adorable bright eyes and charming smile'.
How and when to lie. How to bluff. How to pick a lock. How to play cards.
All those little rules he made, that he told her every day.
'Don't try to stick out.'
'Don't take anything for granted.'
'Always plan an escape. Look for the doors, the windows, the people. Size them up. Which way do you go? What's your best bet?'
'Don't believe anyone.'
'Don't trust anyone.'
'Don't underestimate anyone.'
'Don't listen to anyone.'
He gulped down the nod in his throat as he wiped the tears off her cheeks.
"You'll be fine. You're ready." He lied.
His parents gave him up at a muggle orphanage when he turned 11 and was declared a squib. He spent his next seven years jumping from one foster 'family' to another, each one being worse than the last.
He was 18 when he finally got out.
He was 18 ½ when he first 'adopted' his best and only friend, Jack, who was almost 17 at the time.
He was 19 when they moved to Romania. For a new start.
When Jack turned 18, Trubel adopted another kid. The stupid people from Child Services said he wasn't qualified enough to adopt more than one and he didn't have enough money to open his own orphanage, but he could at least help one kid at a time.
Always picking the ones that were least likely to be picked, much less by a 'nice' family.
The older ones, the outcasts, the ones that were categorized as 'weird', 'odd', or 'troublemaker'.
Giving them what they needed. A roof, a bed and food.
Even when he was in his middle twenties, nobody called him Dad or Father. He was always Teddy for everyone living under his roof and Trubel for everyone else.
If one of them wanted more he made sure they could have it. If they wanted to be left alone that was fine too. He had been there. He knew how the System actually worked and he cursed it every time it rejected his application to adopt more than one kid.
But Bella had been the exception. The only one he adopted younger than 15.
He had just found out about his cancer and thought to at least adopt one more. The doctors said he had around 9 years. Maybe he could try for a younger one.
But then he saw Bella. Squib or not, he knew a magical child when he saw one.
He saw her file. No last name. Barely a few weeks old, not sure if left or orphaned. Trubel was inclined to go with the latter. Magical children were considered the greatest treasure in Teddy's relatives world. Nobody would abandon a little witch.
He never looked after a magical kid before. But he knew he couldn't just leave her there.
It was the only time his cancer actually did something good. He played a little with the disgusting pity from a couple of people and they arranged all the paperwork three times faster.
He knew the whole crap about babies being adopted faster was probably one of the biggest lie the System ever spitted out. The amount of paperwork was bigger. Most of the time the 'newly parents' backed out before the first month was up. Sometimes even before even seeing the child.
The first full moon after she turned two, they discovered she was a werewolf, which complicated things a little.
On one hand, she got all those werewolf powers that Teddy knew were going to help her a lot in the future.
On the other hand, he wasn't sure how bad it would screw her chances to get adopted again. He loved her with all his heart, and he couldn't imagine ever rejecting her for anything, but other people might not see it like that.
She was five and a born-werewolf. She was still adjusting to her enchanted senses, her strength and speed that Teddy knew were already inhuman and still improving every day.
She flinched at loud noises and bright lights, accidentally broke stuff when she was nervous and Trubel lost count of how many times she ran around too fast to stop and crashed into a wall or a tree or a fence…
The werewolves that were bitten adjusted after their first moon almost completely. A born-werewolf cub needed to grow into them which was neither easy nor pleasant, no matter how much Teddy wished it could be.
"Come on Bell-Bell, let me see those pretty eyes."
Bella sniffed again at the nickname, but when they made eye contact again, her eyes were gold.
'Accept it.' Teddy always encouraged her. 'It's a part of you that people will try to use to bring you down. Own it, defend it and use it against them if you ever need to.'
He spent three weeks learning how to howl so he could teach her. He made new rules and games to help her control it.
He told her everything he knew about werewolves and how people viewed them, never excluding the bad parts, but Trubel never got to go to a magical school so it always felt like he was missing a lot of stuff on the subject.
Try and error and then try again, but it never felt like it was enough.
Teddy as supposed to have 9 years with Bella.
He was supposed to have enough time to teach her enough so she could survive till she was at least 18.
He didn't hope that she would get adopted by a nice, wealthy family, soon after his death. Stuff like that just didn't happen.
But he knew he could teach her enough to at least be able to run away if the situation called it. And stay away as long as she needed.
He always tried to think of everything.
… But it never occurred to him that the doctors might be wrong.
He didn't get 9 years with Bella.
He didn't get enough time with the only person he came to actually love. The only person he knew would have stood by him no matter what.
Dudley Dursley pushed his six-year-old cousin off the swing, making him fall hard on his arm.
Harry groaned but got up quickly. He tried to run around him, when Dudley's friends suddenly circled him.
His heart started beating faster. If he entered the classroom with bruises again the teacher would call Uncle Vernon and who knows how many days he would be locked in the cupboard after that.
If he, by some miracle, manage to hit any of them, the teacher might accuse him of assaulting them.
Dudley started mocking him about something. His hair, his clothes, his glasses, Harry wasn't listening. He looked around desperately, trying not to look as terrified as he felt.
Judging by the smirk on Pierce's face, he wasn't succeeding.
"Hey fat boy!" Someone suddenly yelled, making all of them jump.
Harry looked around, but he couldn't see anyone. The other boys looked as confused as he felt.
Pierce opened his mouth to say something and screeched when someone jumped between them and Harry.
He looked up, the lowest tree branch above them was at least ten feet from the ground.
"Ever heard the saying 'A trappers trap can trap he trapper.'? "asked the girl. She had a weird accent. Not too noticeable, but definitely there.
Dudley's mouth opened, then stayed opened, his only brain cell having trouble processing what the hell the intruder just said.
Harry on the other hand was too busy staring at his rescuer to notice.
He could only see her back. Her hair was a sandy color, almost waist length, not as wild and untamable as his, but close enough.
Her pants were ripped, her combat boots were splatted with mud and her shirt looked old and a little too big for her, but the leather jacket she wore was new.
She was maybe and inch shorter than him, which he found odd. Harry had always been the shortest kid.
Dudley finally gave up thinking.
"Get out of my way!"
The girl did no such thing.
"Or what?" she said dangerously, and Harry didn't need to see her face to know she was glaring at the other boys.
Every kid besides Dudley took a step back. One of them tripped and fell on his butt. No one helped him up.
Dudley's face turned purple, resembling his father.
"I DON'T LIKE PEOPLE WHO DON'T DO AS I SAY!" he yelled like it was a reasonable thing.
The boys near him didn't move an inch. They all looked too scared to contradict his cousin, but for the first time in his life, Harry didn't think they were afraid of Dudley.
If he blinked, he would have missed it.
One second the girl was glaring and the next, she was holding Dudley by the collar of his new shirt. Dudley was almost a head taller, but the girl was towering over him.
His cousin turned pale.
"You won't like it if you mess with me."
She didn't yell and she didn't bother to whisper, but even Harry took a step back at the threat.
She threw him towards his friends. She looked as skinny as Harry, but he could swear Dudley flew a couple of feet before falling over his friends and knocking them too on the ground.
His cousin didn't look like he wanted to make any more threats.
"Scram." The girl ordered this time a little louder.
Nobody even breathed.
"NOW!" She growled and Dudley and his friends trotted over each other trying to run. Harry was fairly sure at least two of them were crying.
The girl suddenly turned towards Harry. He was so startled he didn't even flinch.
'Whoa' was the first thing that came into his mind.
He wasn't sure what he expected, but he always imagined the only people that could be able to intimidate his cousin would be at least six feet tall and would have a beard.
The girl was too… pretty.
She had big eyes, pale skin and sharp features. Her lips were so red he wondered if she was wearing lipstick. She looked exhausted, but somehow, he didn't think it was from throwing his whale cousin on the ground.
There were dark bags under her eyes. Her amber eyes were as bright as his.
She started measuring him up. Harry's face turned red as he thought about Dudley's old shirt that was almost drowning him.
"T-thank you." He said, hoping she wouldn't threaten him, too.
Her eyes widened, almost unnoticeable, but then she nodded and started walking away.
"Wait!"
Harry wasn't sure what possessed him to run after her. Normally he would have just been thankful for the miracle and walk away, too.
But this wasn't just some miracle.
For the first time ever, someone bullied Dudley.
For the first time ever, someone stood up for Harry.
"My name's Harry – Harry Potter."
The girl narrowed her eyes, but didn't fully glare at him, which he counted as a win.
"What's yours?"
The girl didn't answer for a moment. Still taking him in.
Finally, it looked like she found what she was looking for and nodded her head at him.
"You can call me Trubel." She said, and Harry could swear her eyes flashed yellow, just for a moment.