Tethered
Beta'ed and/or revised by;
Contradicting-Whispers
Heather Shadelight
Pendragoon
FirstSelector
My most heartfelt thanks.
— O —
2008, November. 25th, Tuesday. Early morning.
The clack of plastic on plastic was akin to a bell that rang an echo of finality, and Taylor warred with herself about picking the phone again to call Amelia once more – even if only to hear her voice, hear her breathing and pretend just for a moment longer that she was there, with her.
She felt the comforting bloom of Amelia's embrace wrap around her body, soothing her worries – even if only slightly – and washing away her anxiety bit by bit, like waves of heat lapping at a shoreline made of crystallized stress that eventually washed away. It wasn't as good as the real thing but it was one of the only things that helped her keep it together.
Her fingers moved to adjust a pair of glasses that simply put weren't there, and she chuckled to herself quietly, while she looked directly at the small mirror they had in the living room – where she had passed the entire night talking to Amelia, babbling about nonsense one minute and the other in complete silence, content with the sounds of their own breathing being proof that she was there for her.
Once again, a pair of amethysts crowned by molten blood intertwined with a corona of gold greeted her back, her vision sharper than ever, taking in every detail of her face and skin. Amelia had smoothed out everything, not leaving a blemish in sight, perfectly pale skin contrasting with the absolute blackness of her hair.
She wasn't going to lie, she felt pretty.
Coming back to her eyes, she had already answered the battery of questions at the school the other day, annoyingly – no, she wasn't a cape. No, she didn't have eye rays. No, it wasn't natural. It was just a secondary effect of Panacea healing her eyes when she didn't have much practice. No, she can't undo it. No, she doesn't do requests. Stop asking.
She made a mental note to check on various methods to trick a GPS into thinking it was in one place when it really wasn't. She didn't even have to do anything, really. She took an interest in code somewhat not too long ago, but she wasn't nearly good enough to program anything for herself that could be even remotely called functional. So, she turned to the best source she had – other people. Forums and such, in concrete. She was sure someone else had wanted to evade over-controlling parents in the past, so it shouldn't be too difficult finding something that could work for Amelia.
The warmth deepened, like a particularly comfy hug in the middle of winter and she couldn't help but sink once again in the couch, eyelashes fluttering closed and her intentions to get to the shower all but forgotten.
She was jolted out of her stupor when the phone rang, loud and blaring in her ears. She felt Amelia's attention slid off her, probably preoccupied with something else, and Taylor felt icy claws start sinking into her flesh, the usually comforting room temperature of her house not at all enough to keep her from shivering.
One arm draped across her torso and the other one reaching for the damn thing, she picked up the phone with only a slight tremor, the cold already settled inside her and not so jarring now.
"Y-Yes?"
Kurt's strong voice boomed from the handset, not loud and boisterous but sure of himself all the same. "Taylor? Is it a good time?"
She reviewed the probable causes of a call from Kurt at these hours, and the reason that came out on top no matter what was her father. Her still missing father.
Does he not want to live with her anymore?
The thought bothered her less than it should, but she couldn't exactly bring herself to care. She had tried to heal, tried to turn a new leaf, tried to support Dad so he could do the same thing. Go on, move on, as a family.
…That was what they were, weren't they?
She wasn't even sure anymore.
"Yes, it's… I wasn't doing anything, just preparing for the shower."
An exhalation, then a moment of silence before his voice came to life again. "I'll, well," his confidence diminished, his tone softened. "Danny slept away the night here, and left for work before we could talk to him."
So, he was avoiding her. Why? Was it the house? Was it the memories? Was it the rotten first step, the one that almost broke her ankle a couple of weeks ago when they discovered that it had been eaten away by humidity?
Was it her? How she looked? What she did?
What did she have to change for him to love her again?
"Look, Taylor, is it okay if I check on you later? After classes and all that. Danny left some money here for you, and I can pile a bit on top of it." She was about to protest when he cut her off. "And don't think about complaining. Lacey and I don't have kids, and we have a nice little fund we can fall back on. We don't mind helping you out, even if the only way we can help is this."
A small huff. "I would like to drive you to school, but I'll have to check in at work myself…" a rustle of cloth. "In around half an hour, so I don't have much time. Sorry."
Taylor worked her mouth, trying to find anything else to say. The cold made it hard to think. The only thing that came out of her lips before she hung up was a hasty "thank you" murmured so low she wasn't sure he heard. She found herself not caring all too much about it.
Taylor stripped and skipped into the shower with all the haste she could muster, sitting on the floor of the shower and turning the heat at the maximum. The scalding hot droplets hitting her bare skin weren't as nice as Amelia's arms circling her, flesh warming up and relaxing under her touch, fingertips leaving a trail of embers in her wake and lips touching the skin of her neck and face, supernovas blooming with each kiss.
She was just… so, so warm.
She made a little yelp when she leaned far too much against one of her hands which she had resting at the floor of the shower, the nail of her index finger being driven against her palm and drawing up a small rivulet of blood.
Instantly, the heat she loved came rushing back in a tidal wave and drove away the deathgrip the cold had in her, nearly drowning her in the sensation of soft velvet surrounding her completely in an all-encompassing embrace.
She leaned back and watched in wonder as the small flow of blood instantly stopped, fascinating at how the small cut healed within the minute by itself.
Her shower went smoothly from there, but Taylor couldn't help but glance constantly at the palm of her hand, where the previous injury was now nothing else than a small, almost invisible thing.
She bit her lip, indecision warring with desire.
She now knew a way of having back her warmth, a way of feeling embraced, secured, loved.
A forceful exhalation later, she came to the conclusion that she would only call for her if the cold got too bad.
It shouldn't be that hard, right?
— O —
The sound of a page turning was the only thing that could be heard in the library of Pioneer Middle School, a school affiliated with Arcadia, and thus, home to some of the most intelligent or well connected kids in the Bay. Most of them would go on to Arcadia or Immaculata as their choice of High School depending on parental preference, grades, or plain capital; be it political or economical.
Taylor turned another page of 'To Build a Fire', a fitting story to what she was experiencing right now - cold, slicing cold that sunk into her and hung around her bones wrapped like a particularly soggy, frigid towel.
As she finished the short tale in booklet form, Taylor smiled and turned her head to the right, mouth running off her before she could clamp down on it.
"Hey Meli-"
She wasn't there.
The spot where she usually sat with her in the library was painfully absent, a freckled face scrunched up in that way that made her breath hitch was painfully void of her presence.
She had forgotten that this year they wouldn't be able to, at least, pass the time at recess together, comparing classes and complaining about professors with too nonchalant an attitude.
Taylor's chest clenched painfully, cutting her breath short for a moment before soothing warmth bloomed from everywhere at once, Amelia's presence once again pressing against her like a security blanket.
It took a while to get her breath back into control, and once again her presence slid off her, soothing heat giving way to stabbing cold.
She was so very close to sinking a fingernail into her palm that she didn't notice the presence behind her until someone cleared their throat, keratin already pressing on pale flesh.
Taylor wasn't afraid to admit that she jumped slightly. She started berating herself internally, ashamed that instincts ingrained into her thanks to a life lived in the Bay hadn't warned her of a potential threat.
She turned, and came face to face with one of the Principal's assistants. Someone named Ben, perhaps?
"Miss Hebert, if I'm not mistaken?"
"Y-Yes?"
His voice was even, but not with an undercurrent of anger or coldness, so this probably wasn't something bad, per se. She hoped.
"Accompany me, if you will. Mr. Wood has something he would like to discuss with you."
Taylor nodded, a sudden knot forming in her throat at but a moment's notice. She wanted to ask about what, exactly, the principal wanted to do with her but she wasn't sure she wanted to know.
The trip there was shorter than what she would've liked and longer than she hoped, a dichotomy that had her feeling a little dizzy. She wasn't sure when she had sat down, but there she was, in front of a slightly balding, sharply dressed forty something year old with a small smile and softly crinkled eyes.
"Taylor, yes?"
"Ye-" her voice cracked, and she flushed in embarrassment. "Yes, that's, that's me."
She fidgeted in her seat, still uncomfortable. "Um, did I do something I shouldn't have, or…?" Her voice came smaller than she intended, and she fidgeted harder, incapable of meeting the man's eyes.
He chuckled, a warm sound that still didn't reach her. The room felt uncomfortably chilly. "No, no. You did nothing wrong, Taylor. In fact, I'd say that you did everything right, and then went above and beyond."
What? "What?"
He laughed a little more, his hands resting on a small pile of papers and pushing them in her direction.
"The administration decided that you're too brilliant to remain behind and not where you should be, so I am pleased to inform you that Pioneer is offering you to skip a grade with a full membership to Arcadia, should you accept." His smile widened, and Taylor could only start to gape. "Adding to this, we are throwing in the Mentoring program, a little something that's relatively new where someone from the target grade or one higher helps the one skipping with the catch-up work, if there is any."
He steepled his fingers, resting his chin atop them. "As a final bonus, given your impeccable attitude and even cleaner grades, I say we, but it was mostly my decision-" at that, his smile turned into a grin, as if he knew a joke only he was onto. "-that you should be able to choose your mento-"
She could select who mentored her.
She could be with Amelia. She could feel her warmth again.
She could have the heat she wanted, needed, craved.
"Amelia!" She squeaked, her mouth running off her. She snapped it shut and flushed up to her ears. "I, uhm, I mean that I'd like to have Ame-Amy as my mentor. We already studied together, and I helped her with some subjects even when she was a course ahead of me."
His smile positively lit up the room. "Well, in that case I believe that the only thing left is parental approval, which I believe won't be a problem?"
She nodded, even if she was wincing inwardly. "No sir."
"Then I believe that you should return to class. It was a pleasure having you at Pioneer, Miss Hebert."
Taylor returned to class with a smile a mile wide, thoughts of arms circling her and soft lips against pale skin filling her brain with hope.