An: NymhadoraTonks: Lorelai left because she didn't want to get hurt the same way the real Lorelai did. She was developing feelings for Everett and was afraid of getting hurt. She had made a point of herself not being the same as she didn't want Everett to be disappointed. The dream scene is supposed to be confusing. It's a turning point to what's going to happen soon.
Thank you!
Over the next week, Everett would come to the castle to pick up Lorelai after his lesson with Evie. Lorelai would meet him at the doors, not allowing Everett to even catch a glimpse of Rose. He wanted to ask for her, but it slipped his mind every time he saw Lorelai. Most afternoons, it was raining. It was as if the sky knew it was exactly what the young teens needed. Or perhaps it was just an enchantress.
They sat at the door and watched the droplets crash into the front yard's green grasses, feel the humidity rise at the tips of their fingers, and hear the claps of soft rumbling thunder. After the second day, they began to fill the silence with their voices. Everett got to relearn the things he already knew about her, and hear about things he had never known about anyone before.
"I had never bothered being the center of attention, even before we were thrown out of it," Lorelai hugged her knees to her chest. It was the third day of rain. Everett gazed at her.
"I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault," Lorelai shrugged. That wasn't true, Everett had made this strange reality. "Now my mom thinks I should have a big ball for my birthday. I suppose it's just to make up for everything with Max."
"It's not very far. A little less than two weeks now."
Lorelai glanced at him, then looked away when she noticed his staring. "I didn't know you knew my birthday."
"Of course I know. That's where we first met you know. Well, where we first really met." He grinned as the images of his younger self and the little girl flashes in his mind. He hadn't been able to access those memories clearly ever since he came here, but now he felt like he knew every detail. They were sitting on that bench. His bench that he would hide on. And she joined him, remarking on his parents and how in love they were.
"Everett," Lorelai's voice was weary. He snapped from his daze. She was holding a rose petal.
"Where did you get that?"
"It fell just before you came," Lorelai softly smiled. "It didn't have anything attached to it. It does now."
"The party?"
Lorelai nodded. "I think that will be the final day."
"Final day?"
"It's the last day we have to put everything right."
"How are you sure?"
"Rose had been counting the petals from the start. They've been falling slowly, but surely. It makes sense for it to end there. You'll have to get Evie and your dad there if they'll fall in love."
"There's no way Evie would go out in public like that."
Lorelai tapped the petal to her chin. "Well, what if the ball was a masquerade? So everyone wouldn't know who everyone else was."
"That's...actually, not a bad idea. Not at all," Everett felt his chest lift a bit. "Can you ensure that it is?"
"Oh, I know I can," Lorelai giggled to herself. She turned her whole body to him. "You underestimate my power, Mr. De Vil."
"Trust me, I don't," Everett said sincerely. She opened her eyes and took in the small distance between them. Her cheeks colored as they stared at each other. Everett's grin widened before he leaned back. "That's why I have a surprise." He stood up and reached out a hand to her.
"Surprise?" Lorelai repeated as he pulled her to her feet.
"Yep," Everett pulled the umbrella from behind his back. "I think you're ready for a stroll."
"You mean—" Lorelai looked from Everett to the umbrella to the rain awaiting them. "I can't go out there."
"Yes. You can," he encouraged. "It doesn't even have to be very far."
"Can...can we do this tomorrow?" Lorelai took a step back. "I need more time to...prepare. Besides, the rain is practically over."
"No it's—" Everett was shocked to see the rain had become close to nothing. That was strange. It was as if she was controlling it.
"It'll only be a few minutes, and we'll be safe to go home," Lorelai put on a wide smile. He tried to match it, but his face melted back into shock.
"I think that will be all today," Rose rubbed her hands together before shoving them in her pockets.
"Any rain today?" Lorelai asked, partially weary. Rose grinned. Lorelai had made much progress over these last few days. Everett was to thank for that, and herself since she had provided the rain, but she didn't need to take the credit.
"No," Rose shook her head. "The skies were very clear last time I checked."
"Good," Lorelai nodded firmly. "I've got to get to party planning anyway."
"A joy I'm sure."
"With Jane glued to my hip and stealing my lungs, yeah it's been great."
Rose's mind brought back the images of her dreams. She hadn't shared them with Lorelai. She didn't want to freak her out, but it was so hard to keep them pent up all the time. Rose never had trouble like this before. She had always dealt with problems herself. But Rose never had someone to trust before. No one who wouldn't run away.
"Are you okay?" Lorelai asked suddenly.
"Yeah," Rose snapped from her small daze. "I suppose you don't want to keep Everett waiting." Lorelai hesitated but gave a firm nob before turning away. "Lorelai," she called after her without thought. Rose hated herself for doing this. She really didn't need to pry. Lorelai turned with a curious expression.
"Yes?"
"Does..." Rose bit her lip. "Does he seem alright?"
Lorelai's expression softened. "You could just talk to him yourself."
As much as Rose wanted to, she didn't want to hurt Everett anymore than she already had. She had pulled him in, then pushed him away. Rose lived in constant fear of what would happen if he followed in her footsteps. She would do whatever it took to prevent him from making those mistakes. Even if it meant making it rain from afar it was just what Rose had to do for him. But, Rose had to admit she actually missed the boy.
"I don't know about that," Rose shook her head. "I'm not the one he needs right now."
Lorelai's cheeks turned a light pink. "Okay. Perhaps another time."
Rose gave her a small nod to signal her parting. Lorelai gathered her things and left the castle. When she was far enough, Rose transported herself up to the big gazing window in the second-floor hallway. She stared down at the grasses in front of the castle. Everett was standing there with his bike parked next to Lorelai's. He smiled when Lorelai came out of the castle doors. The sight brought a small smile to Rose's own lips.
Her grin quickly disappeared when her mind was flooded with memories of her past. Ben's pained eyes. Simon's persistent hope. It was all there. Rose had never examined it before, but the love had been there. Ben had truly loved her as a brother should, and she had taken advantage of it. And Simon had loved her in a way she thought would only be torture. But the rose petals had shown her what it would've been like if Rose hadn't burned every bridge.
She thought about what Lorelai had said. Could Ben ever take her back into his home? His heart? After all, she had done would he ever be willing to forgive? She knew he had a soft spot for those villain kids, but this wasn't the same. She had known him, loved him, lived with him in lies for years, and then broke everything he had ever known.
Even if Ben did possess the kindest heart ever known, some things, some people, could never be forgiven. Could they?
"That is lovely," Evie ran her fingers over the design Everett had drawn. He had drawn a beautiful blue gown that had layers of butterfly wings in the skirt. It was a rough sketch, but it would b enough to begin a pattern. "I think I could have it ready on time."
"Really?" Everett asked with hope.
"Mhmm," Evie tore the page from the binding. "I've been wanting to start a new project. Can you get me measurements?"
"Actually, I was hoping you could make it in your size, just shorter. Then, I can bring Lorelai in for a fitting right before it's done."
"I suppose that could work," Evie began to sketch in her own design book. "Where has the time gone?"
"I couldn't tell you," Everett admitted.
"It's funny really," Evie shook her head. "It felt like only yesterday I was stepping out of that limo with my three best friends. Of course, that was before everything..."
"Everything?"
Evie glanced at Everett. "Got complicated."
Everett dropped his pen. "What really happened? What made them believe you had betrayed them? I want the truth. Please, I—"
"I broke the vow," Evie cut him off. Everett sank back in his chair, ready to listen. "There. That's the truth."
"What vow?"
"The one that said we were all going to stay together. Friends forever," Evie shook her head. "I broke it, because of my heart. I...had fallen in love with—"
"Carlos," Everett finished for her. She was a little shocked but nodded.
"Yes. It was after the Cotillion. We were dancing and maybe it was when he put his arm around me or when I looked into his eyes but it stirred something inside me. Carlos made me...feel alive. I realized I had never felt that way with anyone else before. I hadn't even felt that for Doug, my boyfriend at the time. Then, that night, Carlos had caught me sneaking out of my room. I was going to get my mother's mirror back. That was probably where I truly went wrong.
"He was up too, claiming he was just taking a nightly stroll. I tried to hide what I was doing, but he figured it out pretty quickly. I could never hide anything from him for long. Before Mal and Jay, it was just us on the Isle. He was my first and very best friend. So, he helped me get that mirror back, but I had fainted. He held me all the way back to my dorm room. The facts of my feelings hadn't sunken in yet, not until the next day. He had caught me in the hallway, literally.
"Perhaps it was the sentiment or the hug, but that was when I knew I was hopelessly in love with him. Naturally, I was a little freaked out by the revelation. He had just gotten together with Jane, and I had been dating Doug for a couple of months. But, it just didn't matter because my heart was gone. I had been having some troubles with Doug's speculations for a while, but I had enough. I broke it off with him quickly. I was crying in the bathroom when..."
"When what?"
"I don't know if I should tell you this." Her eyes glanced at Everett's arms. He had taken off his jacket, exposing every bruise.
"This was when Jane hit you?"
Evie nodded, not meeting his eye. "She thought I was trying to steal Carlos from her. I suppose she wasn't exactly wrong. She scratched me right across my cheek and left me to my tears in the bathroom." Evie's fingers stroked her face where Everett could only assume that was where Jane had struck.
"Why didn't you tell Carlos?"
"I wanted to," Evie admitted. "But I got it into my head quickly that I really was just a worthless villain. How could Carlos ever love me? I didn't deserve it. That was when I discovered I could do magic, and that made me believe everything they had said. So, I ran to the Isle first. The borders still were able to be opened. The tensions were still on the rise. I thought if I went home I could just pretend that my feelings didn't exist. It didn't last long. Carlos was the one who found me in his treehouse. That was, after all, our place."
"Treehouse..." Everett whispered. It all made sense now why Carlos loved building that treehouse when Everett was young. It reminded him of home. A good home.
"He had convinced me to come back," Evie shrugged.
"Did you tell him about what you were feeling?"
"Not exactly. I...kissed him."
"What?" Everett's mouth dropped. "How did that happen?"
"We were arguing and it just...happened."
"Then what happened?"
"Nothing, in that sense," Evie shook her head. "He was with Jane. We never talked about it. I just went back to Auradon with him. I pretended to feel nothing. My magic soon went away. Once I graduated, we all went our separate ways, but together. It was easier to deal with the pain. I thought I was going to be fine. That was until Mal and Ben got engaged the day before things really got out of control.
"VK day was a new thing we were going to try. I had been working so hard on it all year, I was sure there was no way I could fail. But, Hades attacked when we were trying to get the chosen ones off the Isle. With Uma still on the loose, the rumors began to spiral. Talk of permanent barriers around the kingdoms and the Isle. There had been supposed sightings of magical creatures linked to Uma that had really gotten subjects on edge."
"Was that when the walls came up?"
"No. Not yet. During the whole debate, I stood up for those who I knew were suffering on the Isle. That was when the problems started. Mal saw it as the treat. Our home was a threat. It was when I tried to get Carlos and Jay on my side had I began to realize I had to go. We weren't going to be safe if the barrier was going to be closed. Auradon would revert back to their old ways in no time and frown upon any magic or Isle blood."
"Why didn't Dad—my dad believe you?"
"I think he was scared. Scared to rebel and stand up for what was right. I knew he wanted those kids to have a chance too. I had only talked to him when I thought he was my last hope. Jay had sided with Mal, and there was no going back with them. I hoped Carlos would believe me and my fears of the future if we let this wall come up. But when I went to him, he wasn't himself. He and Jane had been living together for a few months and she had...changed him.
"At one point, I believe he was still there. The Carlos I knew. The Carlos I loved. He seemed to understand, to know what was going to happen. But then...he flipped. In all of my days, I never thought I would see the one where my best friend would call me crazy. Tension rose easily between us. I tried to tell him to get away from Jane while he still could. I tried to tell him what she was really like, but he wouldn't hear it. In the end, I told him I would run away again, and he said he wasn't going to stop me this time. So, I left just before they put up every wall and seal on the kingdom. I bought this cottage for almost nothing and I've been here ever since."
"Wow," Everett sighed. "I can't believe my father would say something like that."
"I can understand it. He wanted to hold onto the dream that things would get better. I had that dream too, but I woke up."
"I think he's starting to wake up too," Everett admitted. "I think he's braver than he used to be."
"Well, he's got you for a son," Evie grinned. "I just hope you haven't made the same mistakes he and I did. How are you and Lorelai?"
"Things are..." Everett felt a small smile come to his lips. "Evolving."
"I forget how young you both are," Evie shook her head. "But then again, I was so young when I left. I didn't think about the stupidity of my actions or feelings."
"They're not stupid," Everett assured her. She just looked at him, so he reached across the table and place his hand on her arm. "Thank you for sharing that with me."
"I shouldn't have," Evie shook her head and took her arm back. "He is your father. You shouldn't have to hear about what he had done in the past. I would hate for your views to change of me because of me."
"No. He never told me anything. He doesn't tell anyone anything. It makes sense now why he won't talk about you."
"He won't talk about me?"
Everett shook his head. "There's always this look in his eye. A familiarity and joy, but also pain. He must miss you."
"You don't know what he's thinking. Besides, it's better not to give me any false hope." She rose from her chair and held up her own sketch of the dress for Lorelai.
Everett got to his own feet. "What if it wasn't a false hope?"
"It is. I know it is."
Everett wished he could show Evie the map his father kept. Show her the pain his family was in all because Jane was his mother, not Evie. Perhaps he could convince her that Carlos did miss her, and so she would come to pay him a visit. Or at least let Carlos know that Evie was still here, she wasn't lost. Everett would have to gather evidence, only then will Evie see reason. Only then would she understand that she needed to come back.
That afternoon, Everett told Lorelai his plan as they watched the rain together. "Do you think it will work?"
"I hope so," Everett shrugged. "She's very convinced that what she had done can ever be reversed. I know what that feels like. It's not very easy to climb out of that hole."
He was surprised to feel Lorelai's hand placed on top of his own. He glanced at their hands, then up at her. "Rose is like that too. I've tried to tell her that my father would take her back, but she doesn't believe me."
"That doesn't surprise me."
"How so?"
"I think Rose is afraid of getting hurt again. Or she just doesn't want me around."
"She cares about you," Lorelai told him. "She asks about you."
"Then why hasn't she reached out to me?"
"Because she believes that she isn't the one you need right now." Lorelai gave him a soft smile. Everett felt his heart skip a beat.
"She's right," Everett grinned mischievously. "Because what I need right now, is a walk in the rain." He held up the wrapped umbrella from his pack. Lorelai's smile dropped immediately.
"Ever—"
"No, you're not getting out of this one." He stood up and held out his hand for her to take.
"But I can't," Lorelai protested as she took his hand and pulled herself to her feet. Everett clicked the umbrella open. It fanned out instantly. "It's bad luck to open an umbrella indoors."
"I think we'll be alright," Everett pulled her in by the hand. Together, they stepped out into the light storm. There were no rumblings of thunder, just pouring rain. Lorelai's body shook with every step down the stairs, but when they hit the wet grass she took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
With slow and cautious steps, they made it to the middle of the yard. "See," Everett squeezed her hand when they stopped walking. "I told you you could do it." Lorelai's eyes opened scanned her surroundings. She was shocked she had made it, but a small smile formed on her lips.
Then a crack of overhead thunder made Lorelai practically jump into Everett's open arm. He held her tightly to him, "It's okay. I'm right here." Still clutching his shirt collar, Lorelai lifted her head to look into Everett's eyes. Her shuttering breaths became deep. He could feel their hearts pounding in sync. Her breaths reflected off of his cheek, making his skin turn light pink. He glanced at her relaxed lips, then back at her eyes.
For a moment, Everett felt himself leaning in. But with another rumble of thunder, the next thing Everett saw was Lorelai's back as she ran back to the castle. Everett sighed and held out his hand to the rain. Droplets hit his palm and slid from his fingers. He gazed at the castle doors, where Lorelai was watching him. With another sigh, Everett went back to the castle.
When Everett got home that night, he found himself in an empty house again. It was dark except for one light in the dining room. "Hello?" Everett called with a soft tone. He crept slowly into the dining room, to see Jane waiting for him just as she had before. Except for the look in her eye was wilder than before. "Where's dad?" Everett asked.
"He's out getting supper with your sister," Jane said with a small smirk, which quickly disappeared from her face. "Sit."
Everett's shoulders tensed. He still had the scars from the last time he listened to her. "No."
"Fine," Jane stood from her seat. "Then at least explain to me why you've been lying once again."
"What?"
"You haven't gone to practice in days. You don't even bother taking your uniform anymore."
"You were in my room?"
Jane chuckled as she began to round the table and walked towards him. Everett walked the other way, keeping distance between them. "Conroy, I'm everywhere."
Everett swallowed as fear began to build in his chest. Wisely, he chose not to answer her, just simply keep his distance.
"Care to tell me why you were with the princess again?"
Everett stopped walking. Jane grinned as she raised a brow, "You didn't think I would find out? That you had been extra careful this time? No. I know you two ride your bikes together every day and disappear for a few hours. I thought my first warning was good enough. That I had explained the dangers to you in a way for you to understand."
She continued to talk, but Everett tuned her out. He felt anger building up in him. Why was he cowering from her? He had done nothing wrong and Jane was worried about their reputation instead of her own son's feelings. She had hurt him, Charlotte, and Carlos, and somehow gotten away with it all. Charlotte and Carlos may be too scared to confront her, but Everett wasn't. Not anymore.
"What danger?" he asked through gritted teeth.
Jane stopped taking it instantly. Then she asked in a harsh whisper, "What did you just say?"
"I asked what danger?"
There was a small pause, but the tension-filled the gap rather nicely. Jane began to round the table again. They were on the same side, and she was drawing nearer in slow, strong paces. Everett did not move a single muscle. "I have worked very hard for this family to finally have a good reputation. For years we've been ridiculed, threatened, and put to ultimate shame because of the Isle blood. I have sacrificed everything I have in my name for this family. That girl can put us right back into the hole if you don't understand that you're better off with what you have now."
When she was inches from his face, Everett whispered, "I have nothing."
"What?" Jane blinked and took a step back.
Instead of holding his ground, Everett stepped closer to Jane. He used his height to tower over her. "I said I have nothing. Nothing is mine, it is all yours."
"Don't you raise your voice at me."
He only spoke louder. "You can say that you've sacrificed everything, but all you've done is destroy a family. You destroyed dad's achievements, Charlotte's dreams, and any hope in me to have your own perfect life."
Jane's chest rose and fell rapidly. He had hit a huge nerve, but he couldn't take it anymore. With one last glare, Everett turned away from her. He was going to run and find Carlos to tell him everything. They could finally escape this living hell.
But just as he got to the door of the dining room, Jane's laugh made him turn back around. "Oh, Conroy," Jane's voice became low. It was like something had possessed her. Her eyes turned dark and malicious. "You're going to regret that." She picked up a sharp dinner knife.
