A/N: Faragonda receives a text message from Griffin that is barely a few words at length but it's enough to make her drop everything since her friend needs her. No magic high school AU.
Faragonda walked into the apartment, clutching at the spare key Griffin had given her, the edges of it digging into her fingers. Her phone was clasped in her other hand and she was doing her best to relax her grip on it so that she wouldn't crush it. She hadn't left it out of her grasp ever since she'd gotten the message from Griffin. It hadn't been long but it had planted a sense of urgency and even desperation in her that she hoped she was imagining. She'd still dropped everything and hurried to Griffin's apartment to check on her.
It was quiet but that was exactly what made the uneasiness claw harder at her stomach, nearly making her double over from the overwhelming feeling of wrongness. Griffin hadn't opened the door and she'd had to use the key that was currently on its way to drawing blood from her. She had to loosen her grip but she couldn't. She had to hold on to something and the hope that everything was okay was too fragile and would break if she touched it, let alone clutched at it. So she tried to keep it whole as she clutched at the key instead, the pain keeping her thoughts from becoming too heavy, and she kept herself moving. She had to find Griffin.
The kitchen was empty and everything in there looked normal, just like it did in the corridor. It only fed her restlessness, though, and it took over as she opened the door to the living room and froze. She hadn't been prepared for the sight that met her.
The chairs were toppled over, the cushions from the couch were in different ends of the room, the crystal bowl that was always full of packets of tea was shattered at the foot of the coffee table that had been wiped clean of everything it usually sported and all the items could be spotted lying around on the floor. One of the pictures on the walls had fallen and its frame was broken.
Griffin was at the end of the room across from her where Faragonda couldn't reach her from all the rubble in her way. She was sitting on the floor cross-legged, slumped over and her hands lying in her lap so still that it hurt to look at her and the tears were falling from her eyes silently. Her look was lost somewhere in space and Faragonda wasn't even sure she'd noticed her. She had to do something because she couldn't look at her like that. It was like looking at a lifeless doll and not her best friend.
"Griffin," she called quietly, afraid that startling her out of her state would break her. She looked so tiny and fragile, and resigned, and Faragonda had never seen her like that before. And the empty stare that met her when Griffin looked at her was the most painful thing she could remember. She couldn't even feel her stomach anymore as the worry had stolen it from her and it was moving on to her heart and mind now. "What's wrong?" she asked when it became apparent that Griffin wouldn't speak first. She just hoped she wasn't pushing on the wrong front. The last thing she needed right now was to make Griffin retreat in herself and refuse to talk to her.
Her life seemed to stop in the moments while Griffin remained still and unresponsive and she couldn't breathe. It seemed unfair for her lungs to be full of oxygen while Griffin's entire being felt so empty.
Griffin did move in the end, though, as if spurred on from her worry for Faragonda when she must have been mirroring her own state. Her head turned and her eyes filled with new tears at the sight of a book that Faragonda hadn't noticed before. It was lying under one of the chairs that had its legs in the air pointing at her like deadly spears.
Faragonda walked towards it, though, careful not to step on something and hurt herself and moved the chair away. The book was open and now that she could take a better look at the pages, she recognized it as the yearbook of their high school. She hadn't found the time to get hers yet so she didn't know what was the problem with it.
She quickly shoved her phone and the key in the pockets of her coat before picking up the yearbook. Her gaze slid over the open page and her eyes widened when she came across the words as if looking for something else she must have missed. There was nothing else, though. Just the string of words that was like a punch in the gut. Most likely to kill a man.
"That's-" she cut herself off, for saying it was a joke would be like instantly filling the room with water and causing both her and Griffin to drown. Their classmates had voted Griffin most likely to kill someone and it had been bad taste of them to even come up with that prank, not to mention to go along with it. "They didn't mean it," she tried instead as she closed the yearbook and threw it on the carpet as if hoping it would swallow it before focusing her attention on Griffin and getting to her. Her friend needed her support because to her it definitely wasn't a joke if the destroyed living room and her concerning emotional state were any indication.
"Exactly," Griffin said, her voice shaking so hard with both anger and pain that it almost made Faragonda lose her balance when it rocked her whole world. She almost fell to her knees as she made her final step but it was worth it since she got to Griffin and could put a hand on her shoulder, even if it didn't have much of an effect. "They took this lightly and put it in the yearbook where everyone who looks at it will see it, dubbing me a potential killer like it's a joking matter," Griffin said as she looked at her, her eyes bloodshot and puffy. "And the worst part is that they might have been more right than they thought," Griffin looked down and gravity pulled even more of her tears out of her eyes. Or it might have been the self-loathing that forced them out. Either way, they were in the open and were killing Faragonda and probably Griffin as well.
"Of course they weren't," Faragonda said as she sat down next to her friend and rubbed Griffin's arm in an attempt to chase away the shivers running down her own spine. "This stupid prank only speaks of our classmates' maturity," she tried, the urge to grab the yearbook and make the people who'd participated in the scheme eat it as well as all of the other copies so that neither she, nor Griffin would have to look at it again taking over her. She had to stay with Griffin, though. Her emotional comfort was a priority at the moment, and she could always put off the plans of revenge for later.
"Oh, really?" Griffin snapped, pulling away from her. "Look around," she said, motioning for the mess that surrounded them. "My first instinct was to destroy," Griffin enunciated, barely breathing through the emotions and all the tears coming from her eyes before she covered her face with her hands, sobbing audibly now.
Faragonda couldn't look at anything else but her friend even if she wanted to. And she didn't need to. She knew what Griffin was capable of, knew that she could be your worst nightmare if she wanted to but none of that mattered to her. Apparently, it did matter to Griffin, though. And she couldn't understand how she hadn't figured it out earlier. They'd been best friends for years and it hadn't even once occurred to her that Griffin could have self-doubts about being a good person. Probably because to her she was the best person. But it still didn't excuse the fact that she hadn't noticed. If anyone was at fault, it was her.
"I'm asking you to look at me," she said as she gently closed her fingers around Griffin's wrists and slowly peeled her hands off her face when Griffin allowed it without resistance. "I can't speak about anyone else," she started, making sure that she had Griffin's attention, their eyes reflecting each other and it was beautiful even with the tears in the way because they had no problem baring their souls to each other and it was that connection that she wanted Griffin to remember, "but to me you're most likely to steal my heart."
Griffin gave a half-huff, half-chuckle. "It's not the time for jokes, Faragonda," she said but her voice was still overflowing with insecurities just like her eyes were and she still hadn't pulled away from Faragonda, for that could be the only thing keeping her whole.
"I am not joking," Faragonda said seriously as she slipped her hands into Griffin's and held them tenderly like she would hold Griffin's heart. "I have never met anyone else like you. You're so strong and passionate, and unapologetic for being yourself, and I don't think I can tell you how much I admire you for that," Faragonda said, her eyes watering with the memories of all the times Griffin had stood up for her or someone else, or for her own principles and had fought with words or even physically for what she believed in. She held a love for the world that could easily be seen in all of her work no matter if it was the essays she wrote on the stars or the plants she took care of. And she kept that love alive even when everyone was trying to crush it.
"You're all those things too," Griffin said, her eyes full of questions now and her grip tightening on Faragonda as if to ask if she'd missed something, to make sure nothing important had slipped through her fingers, to offer support. It was done with such care that it only fueled Faragonda's love for her, making it enter her tears and cause them to spill as it reached for Griffin.
"I've learned how to be those things from you," she said, her own voice trembling but that was from the overwhelming sense of security that was entering every pore of her being, for Griffin's hold on her was anchoring her in a world that was breathtaking because they were looking at it through the lenses of their friendship. "You make it so easy for me to love myself and you." She'd always been weighed down by her family's expectations for her that had left her feeling like she wasn't enough and she would never be. And then Griffin had caught her hand and led her out of the darkness where she could see herself in Griffin's eyes and she could be the person she was in her own. It was liberating and she never wanted it to stop. She could never give up what they had.
"But I…" Griffin's words died in her throat as it was the voice of the insecurities that was quieter this time. And Faragonda wouldn't stop until there was not even a whisper of it left.
"Yes, you could be a monster, Griffin," she said, tackling the problem head on, for that was the only way to get rid of it. And it was the one thing that they had to kill. "Just like everyone else," she added because she had a feeling Griffin had forgotten that. And it was worth mentioning even when she knew that Griffin wasn't satisfied with being like everyone else, and she would never expect her to be. "But you choose not to be," she said, drawing more tears out of Griffin's eyes but those didn't hurt to look at because they were drowning the doubts in Griffin's head. And that was a murder she didn't mind having on her conscience.
"Thank you." Griffin managed a smile, and even though it wasn't her brightest, it was more than enough, for it showed Faragonda her spirit was returning. She looked full of life again, full of her passion, and it was the most beautiful thing Faragonda could think of. "I'll need to clean up this mess, though," she said as she turned to look around the room, her gaze critical of what needed to be done rather than of what had already been done.
"Redecoration?" Faragonda offered without looking away from Griffin.
Griffin nodded thoughtfully, her mind most certainly racing with ideas already as she scanned the room, and Faragonda could see her imagination painting pictures behind her eyes. It gave them a special shine that turned them into the brightest stars the universe had ever seen. It lit up her whole face, like she was all made of light, and it seemed fitting as it was that passion that helped her breathe life into everything she put her mind to. It was a magical sight.
"I just hope mom won't be too mad I broke her crystal bowl," Griffin scrunched up her nose at the thought of upsetting her mother.
"At least the tea is okay," Faragonda teased as she bumped her shoulder into Griffin's whose obsession with tea had rubbed off on her as well. They could be tea fairies or something.
"I'm never one to ruin my own tea," Griffin said before giving her a wide grin that made her feel her stomach but this time it was gentle flutters that drew her thoughts to it instead of the worry that could never be present when Griffin's smile was. It was all that was needed to let Faragonda know everything was okay with the world. She didn't need words.