The Glass Drowns
(Saturday Morning, August 3rd)
When Lonnie walks over to the fridge, she sees a fifty-dollar bill under the magnet with a note: Pizza. Remember to refrigerate it. She pockets the money, grabs a reusable bag, and heads out the door.
After she walks to the store, she finds two frozen, stuffed-crust pizzas, a carton of cashew milk, and some boxes of fruit. She grabs some flavored water, protein bars, and an anti-lactose bottle from the pharmacy section, before she heads to the checkout. She has just enough time to put the groceries away, eat a protein bar with a glass of cashew milk, and walk to the trailer court to meet Luke. Cold air follows her as the dark clouds cover her. The air is fresh, and there's a sense of peace; however, it compares to loneliness. She enters the house, and she's alone. The empty cupboards fill, but the wood complains. The fridge fills, and the door stomps. The wrapper cries open, and the glass drowns.
She's figured it out. Her mother must have gotten hurt while fighting the dragons, her father heroically got that flower for her, and it was made into a healing tea. They hadn't realized she was pregnant, and Lonnie was born with fiery eyes and burning skin. She probably hurt her mother during the pregnancy. That's why she hates her. How could she be a proper mother, if she couldn't even hold her child? Lonnie finishes the milk and sets the wrapper aside. Somehow, she thought nirvana would be happy. She doesn't desire any other discovery, the suffering of this mystery is gone, and she watches herself sit there. She should be happy, but nirvana isn't happiness. It's nothingness.
Lonnie stands from her seat, tosses the wrapper out, and rinses out the cup. She can talk to Rapunzel, she can help her boyfriend, and she can earn her blackbelt, but that doesn't change who she is. She is a flower reincarnated, and that will be the core of her being. She puts on the jacket and heads out the door. Her mother knew. She's a beautiful flower, something that must be quiet. She needs to be quiet so that she's safe, but now everyone will know.
"Hey. You're late," Luke complains.
"Sorry," Lonnie murmurs.
"Whatever," he bypasses. "Let's review. Energy can be transferred or used. Energy can be taken living things, magnetic waves, and electrical impulses. Once you have energy, you can do different things based on the amount of energy you put into it." He notices her stare at the ground and snaps his fingers, "Lonnie. You with me?"
She rehashes, "Energy can be transferred or used. The amount of potential energy you have determines which actions you may pursue."
He continues, "You have it easy. You already have all the energy you need. Now, you just need to use it." He steps aside and faces the wood stump, "And you get to use it by helping us prepare firewood."
"Your religion is nature, and you're chopping tree wood," Lonnie sums up.
"It's either live off of what we have or encourage companies to destroy the Earth and throw away half of the product they made," Luke counters.
"Right." Lonnie recalls, "Supply and demand."
"Humans are such wasteful fuckers." He sets a block of wood on the tree stump, "Here." before he faces her. "Your advantage is that your energy turns into heat. If you can move that energy to your hands, it would make it easier to cut the wood."
"Okay," Lonnie understands.
He shows her his hands, "Focus on your hands. Feel your breath and heat move through your body. It will grow and become more intense, until you can barely even stand it." She shuts her eyes, and he gives her a minute, "Energy is like adrenaline. It adds to your strength. When you're ready, use your hand to chop the wood." She opens her eyes, slices her hand through the air, and when she hits the block of wood, she holds the bottom of it in pain. "Seriously?"
"It's a block of wood," she seethes. "I've only ever done planks of wood before."
He touches her hand and huffs, "It's not even hot. I told you, you had an advantage." She doesn't speak, and he smiles, "I get it. You don't want to earn your black belt. You'd rather just mope over your failure so that you can disgrace your parents' titles and put woman back in their proper place." She doesn't speak. "It would be a lot easier to have some guy swoop in, push out a couple kids, cook dinner while watching the news complement everyone who's not you." Lonnie glances down, unresponsive, and he shouts, "What's wrong with you today?"
She faces him, "What's the point?"
"What's the point?" his eyebrows furrow. "The point is to get angry. Your father leaves you every year to deal with your abusive mother, just so everyone else can tell you that you need to be just as undeniably great as they are. You can do everything in your power, but you will never have the power to be the hero of a country or the commander that led the first female soldier to victory. Your parents will always be better than you, even with all the crap they've put you through. That's the point. Don't you want to prove them wrong?"
She continues to frown, "All my power's done is hurt people."
Luke's eyes move past her, "Tell that to him."
When Lonnie turns around, she sees Ace step down the trailer stairs. He smiles, walks towards them, and asks, "How's it going?"
Luke nods to her, "She says her power's never helped anyone."
He faces her and lifts an eyebrow, "You've never helped anyone?"
"Well," she examines.
Ace looks at Luke, "Because I thought she was the reason I'm walking right now. You know?"
"Yeah," he agrees. "I thought that was why too."
"Okay. I get it," Lonnie voices, before they face her and she sighs. "But still. I just… I don't know."
Ace eyes over her, "What happened?"
Lonnie faces him, "I think I know where my power comes from."
"Where?" Ace takes interest.
"It's a flower."
"You mean, from all that tea you drink?" Luke jokes, nodding over to the water bottle.
"You've heard about Queen Rapunzel's story, right?" Lonnie serious continues. "That flower that healed her mother came from Camelot."
"Where your parents used to work," Ace realizes.
"I'm not crazy, right?" she makes sure. "That has to be it."
Ace contemplates, "That doesn't explain how you have the same blood markers as Mal."
"The flowers only grow in Camelot," Lonnie thinks. "Maybe they're directly linked to the dragons that live there somehow." Neither of them speaks, and she informs, "I can have Ben introduce me to Rapunzel after he gets better. I can know for sure, then."
"After he gets better," Ace seriously repeats.
"Oh. Right." Lonnie meets Ace's eyes, "Ben's been hospitalized."
Ace purses his lips, "Please tell me it's just a cold."
Her frown deepens, "It's not. He had surgery for internal bleeding… caused by his father." Ace eyes over the park, and she continues, "I know your father—"
"You can make him better," he turns back to her. "Your blood can heal him."
"I already tried," Lonnie whispers. "He's not even allowed to eat right now."
"Well, why the fuck not?" Ace frustrates.
Luke stares at him, "You need to calm down."
"You know how long Ben will be out of commission for?" Ace's eyes widen, "If my dad finds out, he'll want me to announce my right to the throne."
"Wouldn't that be a good thing?" Luke points out, "If you're king, you could get rid of the kill order."
"Or Ben can just do it himself after we tell him," Ace counters. "I can't even keep our home safe. How am I supposed to get an entire country to bow down to me?"
"You're a natural leader," Luke reassures.
"They're not wolves," Ace emphasizes. "How am I supposed to lead a bunch of wild apes?" He glances at Lonnie, "No offense."
"None taken," she breathes.
"Titles mean something to humans," Luke reminds him. "The moment you're crowned king, they will bow to you. And for humans it won't matter what you do, they will make an exception for you just because you've been given that title."
Ace faces him, "That changes if they know I'm not human." before he looks at Lonnie. "Do you know where Ben is?"
When they walk up to the service desk, Lonnie informs, "We're here to see King Ben."
The receptionist questions, "Name?"
Lonnie glances at Ace, before she asserts, "You know who I am."
She nods to him, "Who's he?"
Lonnie looks between them, "My boyfriend."
"And you're here to see Ben regarding what?"
"There's a hate group targeting my community," Ace informs.
"Uh," Lonnie takes offense. "We're also worried about him."
"I'm worried about my family more," Ace inputs.
Lonnie narrows her eyes, "Ben's your cousin."
"Sorry," she interrupts. "Who did you say you were?"
"I'm no one." Ace leans forward, "But it's really important that Ben knows about this."
"He could be in danger too," Lonnie seriously says.
The receptionist eyes between them, before she picks up the landline and dials, "I've got two visitors at the front desk for King Ben. Lonnie Li and her boyfriend would like to relay some important information to him." She nods, "Yes. The information is stressful."
Ace shakes his head, "I don't believe this."
"Ace," she whispers.
"No," he quietly enforces. "I can't wait two weeks to tell him this."
"Sounds good," the receptionist says, and they turn back to her. "If you go to the second floor, King Charming will meet you in the waiting room."
"Thank you," Lonnie smiles, before she sees Ace walk up the stairs. She hurries after him, "Hey. Hold up."
"This is too important to hold up."
"Waiting a second isn't going to kill anyone," Lonnie tries to catch her breath, and Ace turns at the top of the stairs.
She halts, and he meets her eyes, "You say that."
Lonnie sees Charming next to the waiting area and points. Ace turns back around, and they walk over to King Charming. Lonnie bows her head, "Your Highness."
Ace opens his mouth, before he looks at Lonnie, "Does he even know about Ben?"
"I think so?" Lonnie unsurely answers.
"I was told you had important information?" Charming comments.
"There's a group of hunters targeting carnivores," Ace informs.
Charming purses his lips, "Let's sit down." He leads them to a set of seats, before he presses his hands together, "Can you start from the beginning?"
"My family's part of a community of wolves," Ace explains. "We have a woods surrounding us, and hunters put out a bunch of traps."
"And you think they're targeting you," Charming understands.
"I know they are," Ace asserts. "They're supposed to put up signs to warn people of the traps, but they didn't."
"Did you try telling the police this?" he asks.
"My dad did," his eyes widen, "after I got caught in one of the traps." He takes a deep breath, "But the officer that's on our side says there's nothing he can do, because there's a kill order on wolves."
"Wait." His brows furrow, "A kill order?"
"There's no wild wolves in Auradon," Ace continues. "The hunters are seeing us hunt on the outskirts of our own property, and they got permission to kill us for it. All they have to do is claim they thought the wolf was wild, and they have an excuse to kill us without fault."
Charming contemplates, "Is your entire community wolves?"
Ace nods, "For the most part. And everyone there acts as a part of our community."
"Is the land protected?"
"Protected?" Ace questions.
"If the land were preserved for your community," Charming answers, "then no one else could legally enter it. It would be yours."
"Land can't be owned," Ace opinionates. "The Earth owns us. We live with it."
"The dwarves believe that too," he informs, "but having the land listed as legally theirs has allowed them to stay safe. The dwarves have a say in what they can and cannot do with their land. If your community was set as a reservation, you would have a legal right to keep the hunters from entering your property."
"I say take the offer," Lonnie suggests.
Ace glances at her, "I don't have the authority."
"You're going to be alpha in three weeks," she counters.
"Well, I'm not alpha yet." He looks at Charming, "If I can get my dad to agree, how long would this take?"
He unsurely expresses, "One—maybe two—weeks."
Ace shakes his head, "Someone could be dead in two weeks."
"I can start a draft of the agreement now," Charming reassures, before he takes a card from his pocket. "Get your father to arrange a meeting with me, and we can get down to the details. When Ben signs it, it will take effect; however, you will need to mark the reservation with signs. And some press coverage couldn't hurt."
"Not the press," Ace denies.
"It would be a good way to let the hunters know the law's in place," Charming counters.
Ace takes a moment, "Alright."
Lonnie interrupts, "What about Ben?"
"What about Ben?" Charming asks.
"He hunts too," Lonnie explains.
"He tries to." Ace faces him, "If you think he's any safer just because he can't transform, then you're wrong."
"No one knows what Ben is," Charming inputs.
"No," Lonnie frowns. "They just think he's a cannibal."
"Ben's admitted to drinking from humans," Ace continues. "It doesn't matter if anyone knows what he is if they still consider him a danger to humankind."
"I'll tell him to stay out of the woods," he settles.
After a moment, Lonnie inquires, "How is Ben?"
"Stable," he nods, "but…" He looks at Ace, "You probably know this, but some carnivores have markers that humans don't have."
"Like Mal," Lonnie examples.
"The doctors didn't know about him when they gave him the transfusion," Charming frowns. "I'm told there's a chance he could reject the transfusion."
"It's more than just a chance," Ace asserts. "Ben's part lion. He probably doesn't even have the same number of chromosomes as a human."
Charming's mouth gapes, "Pardon?"
Lonnie sighs, "King Charming." before she gestures to Ace. "Meet Ben's cousin."
Ace narrows his eyes at her, "I didn't give you permission to tell anyone."
"Ben doesn't have a cousin," Charming slowly states.
"Let's keep it that way," Ace smiles as he faces him. "Ben's grandfather was my grandfather's brother. He found a magic lamp, married a lion, and now we have Ben. And believe me, I've been trying really hard to keep him alive."
"He has," Lonnie endorses.
"The transfusion's going to fail," Charming backtracks, before he walks away. Ace and Lonnie look at each other, before he twists back around and raises a hand, "Thank you."
After he walks away, Lonnie says, "So, you're getting your own reservation."
"Yeah," Ace agrees, as he watches Charming enter one of the rooms. "You don't think I took it too far, did I? You know, I feel like learning your king is part lion would be a lot."
"No," she pitches. "He's like the father Ben needed to have. It's good he knows."
Ace's eyes shift, "Right." before he turns to her. "So, I just tell my dad now." She nods, he nods, and Ace glances over his shoulder as they leave the floor.
- I'm told the anti-lactose things out there don't actually help all that well, but seeing as this is Auradon, ya know. If anyone has ever had a positive experience with lactose preventatives, feel free to inform me.
