Chapter 25: A Quiet Moment
"This is all I could find," Crystal says, emerging from the jungle with about an armful of wood. "Sticks that were at least dry enough and didn't have snakes wrapped around them."
After rescuing Emma from the spider, the group retreated to their campsite to recover. Despite this whole jungle being inside what was once a scientist's greenhouse, the bright light had faded into an almost dim twilight and allowed for the intense heat to taper off and create a cooler atmosphere. The group found the opportunity to relax and recharge before heading out into the wilderness again.
Steve sits on some of the tree's roots to be out of mud and he pokes the fire with a stick to keep it alive, only looking up as Crystal comes back with more wood. He watches as she builds the fire up again, creating a warm glow around the massive tree they were sheltered under. It almost felt like home or that they were all on a regular camping trip. While El had claimed that she wasn't tired and could find someone else, the older of the girls insisted that she sleep for at least an hour or two before entering the Void again. Assuming that using her powers took a great amount of strength, Crystal knew that Eleven need to recharge her batteries and rest before jumping back in.
Her assumption was proven to be correct when the young girl instantly fell asleep as she laid against one of the backpacks as a pillow. Emma was wrapped in a blanket, lying close to the fire. She had not stirred since the daughter of the Dark One had magically defibrillated her back to life, beating the spider's venom and its attempts to suffocate her with its web.
Steve seems almost enchanted by how the firelight illuminates the girl's face, sharpening her features using shadow and light. He feels something stirring inside of him, something that he hadn't felt in a long time. It was almost weird for the sensations to be back and for a girl whom less than a few hours ago he was screaming at and calling insane.
Once the fire is sufficiently fed, Crystal takes a seat on a nearby root, unsure as to why she's sitting so close to the guy who was insulting her, but again, those feelings come rushing back. She did find him very handsome and attractive; he wasn't hard to look at, but she wonders why now of all times has fate decided to throw them together.
They sit quietly by the fire watching the wood crackles and the sparks dance upwards amongst the smoke. Eleven shifts in her sleep, while Emma remains eerily still, but at least she was still breathing.
Crystal looks shyly at Steve as she pokes the fire with a stick, unsure of what to say to him.
"You know… I love campfires."
"Huh?" he asks, realizing that she is talking to him. She was attempting to make conversation.
"I love campfires, especially in the summertime. The smell is comforting to me, and just the quiet woods is soothing…" She winces when the sound of a snake is heard. "Actual woodlands, not this Jumanji nightmare."
"Jumanji?" Steve asks.
Ignoring the pop culture reference, she continues. "My mom used to take me to the lake in the summer and we'd have fires by the lake after swimming until our noses were sunburned and our hands were wrinkled from the water…"
She continues to gaze at the fire, her blue eyes reflecting the light. "It was nice to get away from busy life… forget about everything and just stop to look up at the stars."
Both of them doubted they would be able to actually see any stars in this mutated greenhouse, but Crystal still looks up at the trees, the reflections of the flames dancing against the leaves.
They both go silent for a little while, unsure of what to say next.
Steve swallows and decides to try to be part of the conversation. Playoff what she had said, while not sounding like a complete dingus.
"I never went camping much… b-but we did have fires in the winter to keep the house warm and sometimes my mom would let us roast marshmallows."
"I still think smores are better," she smiles in a teasing tone. "You can't beat melted chocolate on a graham cracker."
"Agreed," he nods with a smile.
They go into a long silence, but it doesn't feel as awkward as before. The individual memories filling their minds.
Eventually, Crystal breaks the silence.
"I… uh…I never got to apologize to you for yelling when we were trying to revive Emma. I shouldn't have been so harsh and forced you into it."
"It's okay," Steve says casually. "Your friend's life was in danger and you were reacting the way most people would."
"Even still, I shouldn't have yelled at you. I'm so sorry about that."
Steve shrugs and gazes at the fire before gazing at Crystal's exhausted face. "It's no big deal, if my friends were in a situation like that, I'd freak out too."
"Thank you, by the way, for helping me save Emma's life,"
"No problem," he says, giving her another soft smile. She blushes, thankful that the fire is masking the pinkness in her cheeks and smiles back. Her heart flutters gently and his breath catches in his throat. "She must be pretty important friend to you."
"She's more than a friend," Crystal says. "She's my sister… I love her so much that I'm scared to think what would happen if I'd lost her. She also has a husband, a son, and a family at home, but she's part of my family and I can't lose anyone else..."
"Do you mind if I ask why you think that?"
Crystal swallows and is silent for a while, hesitating to spill her guts to this almost complete stranger.
"I lost my mother awhile back. My…my powers were incredibly unstable at the time and I ended up embracing the darkest parts of it… even if it was just for a few minutes…" She swallows and lets the tears fall. "That's all it took for my mother to lose her life… I killed the only woman who ever gave me love when I didn't deserve it…"
The young man is quiet for a while, processing what this girl has admitted to her. While it is off-putting and slightly disturbing, he can tell it's her biggest regret in life and one of her darkest secrets. The fact that she trusts him with this information is meaningful and he isn't completely repulsed by her actions either. While he's never killed anyone before, he has done many things that he is not proud of including slut-shaming his ex-girlfriend. He can somehow tell that Crystal is a conflicted person, more afraid than evil.
"After I lost my mom, I tried to isolate myself from the rest of the world. To protect them. I was a freak and a danger to them."
"So, what changed?" he prompts.
"A bunch of things. One was that I wanted to work with kids, and they don't take to being ignored very well… Another was facing the world on my own… how harsh and cold it truly was when no one cared… but what I think what finally made me change my mind was my desire for…" she trails off.
"What?"
"I guess it was my desire for love. Whenever I was with someone else, the world felt a little smaller, less dark, and scary to an assumed sixteen-year-old orphan. To have someone who cared about how I felt and wanted to be near me without fear, that was a… comfort, a reassurance that I wasn't a complete monster or a freak."
Guilt fills Steve's stomach when he hears the hurt in her voice about considering herself weird and freakish. Why did he go back to his old way of insulting people because of something he didn't understand? He wasn't that person anymore and he was much better off, but he'd gone and hurt her feelings. Even though he'd done everything in a state of confusion and panic, he had alienated her and made her feel awful…
"I am a freak of course; I've long since accepted that, but back then I just wanted to be normal and do things like everyone else. I learned later that I was never meant to be like that and everything about me was anything but ordinary."
She opens her palm and a small ball of purple light hovers above her fingertips. Steve flinches at first, but slowly, he becomes enchanted by its beauty and Crystal's ability to make it float and dance around. He watches in wonder as his mind can barely comprehend that this is actual magic, not some kind of trick or illusion. The daughter of the Dark One thinks about letting her companion touch the orb like Eleven had done, but decides against it, not wanting to freak him out any further.
She then extinguishes the orb and goes back to watching the fire. Steve is utterly speechless, but his eyes show interest and fascination. He gazes at her much longer than before. She gives him a smile and he returns it.
"I like to think one of the reasons that I wasn't normal is because I kept dating weirdos and borderline psychopaths."
Crystal goes on to explain the infamous exes of her life, which causes both of them to laugh at the kinds of freaks she's dated.
"Seriously? 8 ferrets?"
"Yeah, I got my revenge on him though, I let them all loose in his apartment."
"Holy shit!" Steve says through laughter.
"Yeah, my dating life as been insane, and I haven't really had the desire to chase anyone else…" There's a long pause as the smile fades from her face. A wave of sadness overcomes her, and she swallows a lump in her throat. "Sometimes I just wonder if I even deserve to be loved," she sighs, heavily while wiping away a tear that had escaped her eye.
"Of course, you do!" Steve says in an almost angry voice that this girl is talking like this. "Everyone deserves to feel loved."
"Even a freak like me?"
"Especially you…" he says and then pauses, gazing into her blue eyes. His heart flutters again and there's a fire in his stomach, something he hasn't felt since Nancy. She was different, that was for sure, but maybe that was okay. He reaches forward gently turns her head to face him. They lean in close. The contact makes Crystal blush intensely and she closes her eyes in embarrassment and uncertainty. "I've never met someone as incredible as you."
"You hardly know me," she whispers quietly.
Their eyes meet in the firelight and their bodies become even closer.
"That's true, but the fact that you told me that secret means that you trust me and stuff… and I think trust is the first step to the start of anything…"
The two hesitate for a moment, their noses barely touching before they both lean forward, and their lips meet for the first time.
His lips are incredibly soft, so soft that Crystal finds herself wanting more. It feels as though fireworks have been set off inside of her. She feels passion beginning to fill her body as she reaches over and clasps his hand. She's curious about him and wants to explore these feelings. Even if it was the worst possible time for this to be happening, it felt as though fate had brought them together; given a new chance at love.
Of course, she didn't know that Steve also struggled with love too. They were more alike than they realized, but the moment their lips collided, they felt as though it has sparked something new and hopeful. His heart is also racing as he fights the urge to pull this girl into his lap. As they continue to kiss, he never wants to pull back, hungry for this…
However, they eventually do pull apart but are still gazing at each other in wonder and surprise at this new development. Neither speaks but continues to stare.
"Where did you come from?" he whispers, and she just smiles.
…
After a little while, Steve decides that it's his turn to apologize for how he acted.
"I'm sorry too," he says.
"For what?"
"For calling you crazy and yelling at you."
"Don't be, it's how I reacted when I first found out."
"It's kind of hard to comprehend… everything you thought was true really isn't… and the stuff you thought was made up actually exists… as if in a dream or whatever… am I making any sense?"
"Not really," Crystal giggles softly
"So… Emma's parents seriously are Snow White and Prince Charming? And there was the whole poisoned apple and everything?"
"Pretty much, my dad can spin straw into gold, one of the waitresses in our town could turn into a wolf, magic beans can take you to different worlds instead of creating beanstalks, and true love's kiss can break any spell or curse."
Both of them look away slightly at the mention of kissing and blush.
"And like, Emma is married to Captain Hook?"
"He usually goes by Killian, but yeah…"
"But wasn't he the bad guy in the stories?"
"Yeah," she then smiles to herself. "This might help you understand. Try to imagine all the Disney movies that you've ever watched… From Pinocchio to Peter Pan."
"Okay,"
"Now throw all that out the window and burn it with a blowtorch."
"Really?"
"Yeah, none of the movies you know are fully accurate."
"Holy shit," he says in shock.
"I know. Even Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and Frozen are not fully accurate."
"What are those?" Steve asks in confusion.
"Oh right, I forgot of the time gap as well. Those are movies that don't come out until the '90s and beyond."
"That's a headache all its own," Steve says. "I can't believe that you're from the year 2017."
"Yeah," Crystal bites her lip, realizing that the attraction she feels for Steve and the emerging feelings can never be carried out. Her eyes begin to fill with tears, and she swallows a lump in her throat to mask that sadness.
"What's the future like?"
"Uh…" Crystal stammers. She'd avoided opening that can of worms with Eleven, but she knows she must come up with some kind of answer because as they track down the other kids from 1985, these questions will be coming up much more. "Do you really want to know? Won't that disrupt the space-time continuum or something?"
"I really don't give a shit about that. I just want to know if hoverboards or flying cars exist. Do they have lightsabers."
"Sorry no lightsabers, but we do have these," she says, revealing her phone to Steve.
"What is this?"
"It's a cell phone."
"Wow, it's so small," Steve says with his eyes wide in fascination.
"Yeah, compared to the brick phones you guys have in '85, it's a serious upgrade."
"So, what can it do besides the obvious I mean."
"I can listen to music on, a lot of the bands and singers on here haven't been formed yet in '85. I can message people, do research on it, and I can take pictures.
"No way," Steve says in amazement. "Johnathan would freak out that this tiny thing holds and actual camera."
"Johnathan?"
"Oh sorry, he's a friend who now dates my ex-girlfriend…" He winces mentioning this but continues on. However, this information is comforting for Crystal, now knowing that she was likely not causing her companion to cheat on his significant other. "He's a photographer that carries a big bulky camera everywhere."
"Well, I guess I shouldn't tell him that these things can take better pictures than a regular camera."
"Best not to let him know," Steve agrees.
Despite how dorky and awkward it would sound; she decides to take a leap of faith.
"Do you… want to take a picture?"
"On a future camera, hell yeah."
She smiles, returning his enthusiasm.
"Don't we need like Eleven to take the picture for us?"
"No, just watch this," Crystal says. She tilts her head close to Steve, trying to ignore how much her heart accelerates to unmeasurable levels while being so closer to him. She turns her camera around to face them. Steve is startled that he can suddenly see himself on the screen.
"Smile," she says.
He does his best smile and the camera…the phone makes a clicking noise.
"Here it is," she says showing the image.
"Wow, no film either."
"Nope. No more darkrooms or hazardous chemicals. Automatically uploaded to the phone."
"That is awesome. Dustin would flip over this."
"Dustin?"
"One of the kids who were with El and me, he's somewhere in here too. He's one of best friends."
Crystal smiles and then begins to yawn.
"You think that we should both get at least an hour of sleep?" she suggests.
"Shouldn't one of us keep watch?"
"Not if I do this," she says before a bubble of energy surrounds their camp in a flash of purple light. "This should keep the snakes and giant spiders out."
"Still a bit freaked out," he admits. "But it is cool."
"Good to know," she smiles. She then extinguishes the fire and temporarily makes the shield disappear to vent out the smoke.
She offers Steve her backpack as a pillow, but he declines, deciding to use his own torn jacket. He lays down and watches Crystal settle in after putting the shield back up. He gazes at her until she falls asleep and then leans back.
You really know how to pick 'em, Steve, he thinks to himself. First Nancy, then falling for Robin, and now the daughter of Rumpelstiltskin… wonder if I'll date a fairy next. He ignores how complicated everything about their situation is and falls into a dreamless sleep.
A/N: Sparks are flying. Please follow and review.