Chapter Ten: Going Back
Silent Secret really didn't want to be here as much as she knew she had to be. She could hear the few warriors of the Clan of Unity that had been chosen to accompany their leader to the meeting spot and their voices filled her with dread, though being anywhere near that liar scared her even more; however. She just couldn't stop her body from shivering in fear as she and Mountain got closer to their destination. And as they stepped into the small clearing, the little smurfette wished she would just sink into the ground and disappear, never to be seen again.
The patrol of smurfs looked up at them upon hearing the two enter the clearing. Silent Secret was quick to step behind Mountain in a pathetic attempt to hide herself from their glares. Mountain noticed this and took a step to the side, leaving her out in the open. The little smurfette took a fear filled step back, wanting nothing more than to leave them all behind. Something she knew wasn't possible but she could dream right?
Silent Secret flinched slightly as Mountain placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, her gaze shifted up to him warily, silently begging him not to make her go over to them. Despite her silent pleas however, he gently ushered her over, "Sorry smurfling, but you have to go."
"Silent Secret!" A relieved voice spoke up. The smurfette looked up at the group to find Jagged Rock stepping closer to her. There was a happy and relieved expression on his face which fell when he noticed how scared she looked.
Silent Secret hesitated before taking a few steps forward, doing everything she could to keep herself from looking too upset and forced a small smile, "H- hey dad..." She softly stammered.
The little smurfette stiffened as the larger smurf quickly pulled her into a hug, happy to see that she was alright, "I'm so glad to see you're alright!"Jagged Rock exclaimed as he loosened his tight hug, his relieved expression was quick to turn into one of slight anger as he began to chastise her, "Don't ever run off like that again! Do you have any idea how worried I was? And to find out this is where you've been this whole time?" He gestured to the great jungle that surrounded them, "You're lucky to even be alive, that clan could have killed you!" He added, causing Mountain to scowl at the comment.
Silent Secret's glowing gaze shifted to the ground, "And yet, here I am." She murmured under her breath.
"Now then, let's get you home." Jagged Rock stated, taking the little smurfette's hand and starting to pull her back to the Clan of Unity's territory. Silent Secret however slipped her hand out of his grip, making him stop and turned to her, confused.
"Not yet." She told him with a breath, "Before we go anywhere, I want you to tell me what happened to mom."
Jagged Rock merely stared at her for a moment, shocked. She already knew what happened to her mother, why did she want him to tell her again. He'd tell her again if it meant she'd come back home, "Sweetie, you know what happened. She got sick after you were born."
Silent Secret glared at the larger smurf, "Lair." She snapped.
"What?" Jagged Rock questioned, shocked. Why would she ever think he'd lie to her, of course he was technically lying to her but still! Who even told her… Wait… Mountain! He said something to her, didn't he! He should have known he'd do something like this, of course he'd be determined to take away the one person that actually cared about him.
"You're lying!" Silent Secret shouted in anger, causing the larger smurf to flinch, "That's not what happened and you know it!" She drew in a breath before continuing, "Tell me what really happened to her and if I think for a second you're still trying to lie to me, I'll turn around and walk back straight back to the Clan of the Sky's camp!"
Jagged Rock was quiet for a moment, Silent Secret could practically see steam coming out of his ears as he seethed before drawing in a deep breath to calm himself before speaking, "What makes you think I'm lying?" He asked coldly.
"Mountain told me about Sand Dune… and why she really ambushed the camp." She replied, making Jagged Rock scoff softly under his breath.
"Really? Well, how do you know he isn't lying as well?" He asked the little smurfette, shooting a glare at the rival clan's leader, who shot a glare right back.
"I… don't know who to believe." Silent Secret admitted, "That's why I wanna hear the truth from you… cause I know you wouldn't lie to me. Right?"
The larger smurf shifted his gaze away from her, she was giving him that look. Pleading with him to just tell the truth, he didn't want to lose her, he couldn't! Not after losing Sand Dune like he did. Silent Secret was the only one left that actually cared about him. But, if he told her anything more about her mother, she'd hate him. Though he knew he had to tell her something and quickly.
"So, was Sand Dune my mother?" The little smurfette asked expectantly.
Jagged Rock hesitated before merely replying, "Yes."
She knew it, Mountain had been telling the truth after all. At least Jagged Rock wasn't trying to lie anymore. Though, Silent Secret couldn't help but wonder how long that would last.
"And that ambush she led… was she really trying to save me?" She asked, warily taking a step closer.
"She…" The smurf paused to take a quick breath, "She tried to take you from me… I couldn't let her."
"So you lied to her?" Silent Secret questioned, her tone rising and growing angry, "You told her I was dead!"
"I didn't want to lose you!" Jagged Rock exclaimed, trying not to sound angry.
"So you told her I was dead!" The little smurfette shouted, "That was your solution?"
"Yes, I'm aware it probably wasn't the best decision! But I just wanted to keep you safe!" He told her, carefully taking a step toward her. Wanting her to understand that he had her best interests and safety at heart.
Silent Secret slowly shook her head and stepped back, "You lied to me about everything." She murmured bitterly, her tone growing deathly quiet, "And you were really going to lie to me my entire life just to keep me from leaving?"
"I would have done what was necessary to keep you safe." Jagged Rock replied coldly.
"And that included pushing my mother off a cliff?" The little smurfette snapped, shooting an intense glare at the much larger smurf. Whose look of anger shifted to one of shock and grief, though his anger was still present.
"I didn't push her!" He snapped back, "I never meant for her to fall! I tried to save her! I… I…" Jagged Rock trailed off, he shifted his gaze away, "We don't have time for this, We'll speak more when we get home."
"No!" Silent Secret shouted, her mouth moving before her mind could. Her mind was clouded with sorrow and grief, but her anger overshadowed both, "You really think that after a life of lies and secrets I'd go back with you, and after you changed me even though you always told me I was just fine the way I was!" She took a step back, her blue pools glowing intensely as she glared at the larger smurf. Who merely stared on in shock and grief, speechless. Silently begging his smurfling not to do this. Though she ignored this pleading look, either because she didn't care or maybe it was because she couldn't see it.
"Don't bother trying to stop me!" She yelled, swiftly turning to see Mountain sharing Jagged Rock's shocked expression, which she barely noticed "I'm going home." She snarled as she stormed off into the bushes, ignoring the pleas from Jagged Rock not to go. Not realizing how devastating her decision would be, not just for her, but for those around her.
Silence had spent the last few hours stewing in a seemingly never ending stomach ache, trying her best not to throw up as the smurfettes showed her around their camp, which was quite beautiful. Most of their camp was up in the tree and a few surrounding branches but there were some portions on the ground beneath.
She had just eaten a little bit ago, she didn't eat much in fear of this very thing, but she supposed it was inevitable. She had largely tried to ignore the constant aching in her stomach and the need to expel what little she had eaten today, praying to whatever spirits were listening that nobody else noticed how uncomfortable she looked or heard the almost painful rumbling in her stomach.
Though she guessed it wasn't long before someone did notice, the smoogle being the first, which wasn't too surprising considering his large rabbit-like ears which was perfect for hearing things from far away or hearing things that others couldn't. The smoogle was quick to alert the smurf closest to him, in this case Clumsy. Who in turn alerted everyone else. Now they were all fretting over her for no reason. Practically begging her to eat something that wouldn't make her sick.
Silence had tried to tell them she was fine and that there was nothing to worry about, she had dealt with worse than a mere stomach ache after all, but they wouldn't listen. Nope, they sat her down and put all kinds of food in front of her. From fruits to veggies to meat, surprisingly enough. Something the smurfettes had provided it seems, it looked like they weren't the strict herbivores that the other clan was.
Silence could feel her mouth watering at the mere scent of the fresh meat that sat before her, the ancient smurfette's stomach growling with need, demanding she eat something! And since they were offering, maybe it wouldn't hurt to- No! No, she made a promise not to eat any kind of meat while she was living with her new clan, she didn't want to upset them more than she did when she dragged that rabbit into the village.
She tore her gaze away from the food the tribe had offered, looking away from the temptation and continued to implore further that she was fine, that she wasn't hungry despite her protesting stomach. Which continued to gnaw at her, it felt as if her own stomach were eating her from the inside out.
After several tiring minutes of everyone trying to get her to eat something, Silence waited until everyone had stopped paying attention to her to slip away, mostly undetected. Only the smoogle had noticed the smurfette slip away from everyone else and was the only one to follow her to make sure she was alright. Silence hid herself behind one of the nearby trees and there she sat, at least until someone found her or she felt okay enough to move again.
She could hear the smoogle following her, the small creatures' pitter patters on the earth were now unmistakable to her. She didn't mind much, as long as the creature didn't decide to yell and alert everyone else to where she was, he could stick by her as long as he wanted. A minute passed and the sound of new footsteps followed behind the smoogles familiar pitter patter upon the dirt.
The smurfette glanced up to find an older smurfette following closely behind the smoogle, who looked up at her and took a step to the side to allow her to pass him. She had introduced herself before as SmurfBristol when she had first arrived here, though she was quickly distracted by Grandpa so Silence didn't get to talk to her much. Though she did find out that the smoogle belonged to her.
"I was wondering where you had slipped off to." The elder smurfette murmured as she stepped over to her and sat down beside her, "Get tired of everyone telling you to eat something, I take it?" Silence didn't reply, she only nodded as she glanced away. "Kinda figured," Bristol shrugged, "You know they're just trying to look out for you, right? We all know you've been through alot, something we couldn't begin to imagine, so they just want to help you."
"I know they're worried about me." Silence grumbled, "But they shouldn't be. I can take care of myself just fine. They should be more worried about everything but me."
Bristol hummed thoughtfully as she watched the smurfette attempt to hide her face in her arms and hair, "Let me guess, something happened in your past that you blame yourself for and you're trying to make up for it here now that you're out of that stone prison, right?"
"That obvious, huh?" Silence sighed, looking back up, "Believe me there are a lot of things I blame myself for and I'll admit I am trying to keep myself from making those same mistakes. But that's not the main reason I'm doing this." She explained, taking a deep breath before continuing, "They freed me from that prison, they fed me, gave me shelter. I owe them my life for all this."
"Oh come on, they would have done all that for anyone, fellow smurf or not." Bristol told the smurfette, "Trust me, you don't owe them anything and I'm sure they'd agree."
"Either way, I still promised I'd protect them."
"Did you actually tell them that? Or did you keep that vow to yourself?" The elder smurfette asked, "Listen, whatever happened back then I'm sure it wasn't your fault. You don't need to protect anyone to make up for it."
"I'm not trying to make up for anything." Silence grumbled, glancing away from Bristol, "They saved me so if the need should ever arise, I'll do the same. Until then I'll continue to serve them in what little way I can, like I have been."
Bristol sighed and glanced over at Smoogle, who was trying to get her attention, "Well, it's clear I'm not gonna be able to change your mind anytime soon. But I do ask that you actually eat something that won't make you sick." The elder smurfette implored, absentmindedly petting the little smoogle, "It's clear that changing your diet so abruptly was not a safe idea. If you want them all to stop worrying over you so much, then you should start making sure you stay healthy. Even if it means eating food that they may not."
Silence didn't look up, instead she let out a soft breath as she spoke, "If it'll get you all off my back then, fine. I suppose I can go back to my old diet." She supposed it would be best, could finally get rid of this near constant stomach ache. Besides, she was still allowed to hunt so long as it was kept away from everyone else.
"That's all we ask." Bristol replied as she stood up, pausing for a moment to let Smoogle hop onto her shoulder, "I think it's Smoogle's feeding time." She said, mostly to herself, "And you should eat something too."
Silence said nothing, she merely nodded as she too stood up and followed closely behind the elder smurfette and her smoogle. Her softly glowing gaze locked on the ground beneath her, it was bad enough she could just feel everyone looking at her. Though she made herself look up when she heard someone approach. She should have guessed Clumsy would have been the first to come talk to her the moment she came out of hiding.
"How're you feeling?" The smurf asked simply.
"A bit better," Silence replied, looking up at the table that still sat in the center of the camp, "But I think I'd feel much better if I actually ate something." She added, with a light smile.
Clumsy smiled back, happy to see the smurfette had her appetite back. He turned to his fellow smurfs and gave them a thumbs up, she figured they had asked him to see if she was alright. Seeing the thumbs up, the smurfs were quick to disperse for only a minute, quickly reappearing at the large wooden table before Silence even had a chance to sit back down. It was almost as if they had been waiting for her to come back out.
They were quick to place a plate of food in front of her, not too much however, just a small steak, which looked and smelled amazing. She guessed they didn't want to accidentally make her sick again. Silence looked up at the smurfs that sat at the table with her and gave them a grateful grin, "Thanks." She said simply.
"No need to thank us," Clumsy replied.
"Yeah, we're just glad you're eating again." Smurfette chimed in, "Let's just hope this doesn't make you sick."
Silence softly shook her head, "I don't think it will." She told her, picking up the wooden fork she had been given and actually starting to eat.
(A/N): Okay, first of all: Sorry for the lackluster chapter, I did my best.
Now questions!
Shipping? Not at the moment, I'll probably have a few ships later down the line but for now I'm just focusing on Silence and her story.
Inspiration: (A question I got from someone IRL) Main inspiration for Set In Stone was The Dark Crystal: AOR (I actually like to listen to the soundtrack when I write)