Chapter 41: Wastelands Sorcerers and Insecure Hearts
Weeks later
"We should have killed her."
"She's just a kid, Nico."
Audrey wasn't sure what was going on, but she was quite certain that she was hearing voices in the darkness.
How long had it been now since she and her friends had been tossed from the train tracks and into the Wastelands?
How many days did they have to spend quiet, unwilling to breathe out a word unless they accidentally attracted monsters hypersensitive to sound?
How much water did they have to sacrifice to repel the Druun, mindless shadow creatures that petrified any victim they could find in the desert?
How much fire did she and Charles use to protect them from the threats when they went through a frozen city until a wendigo bit her on the arm and Ozzy decapitated the creature?
How much energy did Ozzy spend from Elvis to keep at bay those cray machines that tried to feed on their bioelectricity when they had crossed a dark landscape with endless clouds and storms?
How many zombies tried to kill them? How many cannibals did they have to kill? How many giant spiders did Gothy have to stab before falling ill from one of the bites? How long has it been since they all fainted from the pain, the exhaustion, the dehydration, the poison, and more when they reached what looked like the remains of a giant city after thousands of earthquakes destroyed it?
"She's waking up… Let's take it gently…"
"I still think we should have killed her."
"Oh, for crying out loud! Nico, go check on the other kids!"
Audrey heard a mumble, footsteps fading away, and a door slamming. Her eyes opened slowly. She found herself on some sort of hospital bed, a thin blue bedsheet covering her. She didn't understand why, but she felt no temperature in the dark room she was in. It didn't look much like a hospital room. The left side had the bed, a set of plain blue chairs, cabinets full of medicine, and a nightstand bearing a vase full of oddly glowing flowers. The right side, on the other hand, looked like a messy room fit for a hoarder: shelves stacked with books and scrolls, a table with a chemistry set and brewing cauldrons, mobiles and talismans hanging from the ceiling, and a man reading a book by the curtain-covered window, his red cloaked back facing Audrey. He turned, revealing himself to be a 60-years-old man, the black hairs on his head and small beard losing their coloring in favor of a pepper gray one. His yellow-gloved hands were holding on to the book he was reading.
"Princess Audrey Rose Courdereine," he said out loud.
"Don't…call me that…" Audrey hissed through the pain. It was one thing when people used her middle name, but it was a massive pain in the butt when Audrey had to hear her entire name, complete with the bitchy family surname. "Never call me that…"
"I'm surprised you aren't curious as to how I know your name or why you're in an unknown base, getting your wounds treated."
"You'd be surprised by the amount of jerks I met who know who I am even though I'm putting my past behind me…" Audrey sat up and noticed the healed scar from the wendigo bite on her arm. "Thank you…"
"Anytime…"
Out of nowhere, a cup of hot tea appeared in Audrey's hands. She looked back and forth at the man and the cup in confusion. No glows, no sparkles, no anything. The cup had just materialized in her hands. She took a suspicious sniff that changed into a smile when she picked up the smell of jasmine tea.
"So, you're not the least bit curious as to who I am, where you are, and how I know who you are?" The man asked, closing his book.
"I am," Audrey admitted as she drank her tea. "I just don't turn it into a dramatic thing anymore. Too overdone."
"Fair thing." He nodded. "My name is Doctor Stephen Strange. I've been referred to as the Sorcerer Supreme of the Mystic Arts, otherwise the most powerful sorcerer in the universe. Ironic misnaming, since my friend Wanda the Scarlet Witch, aka the Harbinger of Chaos, is more powerful than me. You're currently in our base which used to be the former Avengers Tower in New York City before everything was destroyed. I know of you because of you are featured in this book." He held up the book he was reading: long, simple red color and rusted golden framing with one big word screaming on the cover.
"Darkhold? What's the Darkhold?" Audrey frowned.
"The universal encyclopedia on the existence of supernatural and metahuman existence, especially in magic and the dark arts. Or, as Wanda, Nico, and I like to call it, the Shitty Book That Appears Everywhere When We Don't Need It And Causes Trouble." The nickname caused Audrey to chuckle a bit while Dr. Strange continued. "It features a 60-pages long chapter about you. The daughter of Sleeping Princess. A disgraced princess who becomes the Queen of Mean and a Phoenix Fae. A compiler of chaotic magic. A being who shakes every single steppingstone in every determined outcome. A being who's ending constantly changes. You're not a walking source of destruction but a walking source of unpredictability. A being that would have never come to be if your family and the other Auradonian nobility hadn't destroyed the world."
"Eesh. And this comes the part when you say you're going to kill me personally because of what my family did." Audrey put down her cup on the nightstand and finally noticing that the oddly glowing flowers in the vase were jasmine flowers constantly dying and blooming in the span of minutes.
"No. I used to be a professional brain surgeon before becoming a sorcerer, so I don't hold grudges and biases on customer opinions. Well, I do now." Dr. Strange waved his hands and the book materialized itself away. "Frankly, I was just as bad as you were before you became the Queen of Mean. A narcissistic jerk who had the fame, wealth, and life handed to him on a silver platter due to his career…" He removed his gloves, revealing scarred hands that slightly shivered, earning a sad look of sympathy from Audrey. "In those days, I never wanted to become a sorcerer. I just wanted to fix my hands so I could do my job again. But existence itself had another say on the matter. I didn't have the life I thought was supposed to be mine because I was supposed to be something else. The main difference was that when I accepted what I had to be, I chose my own steps from then on." He stood before Audrey and placed one of his trembling hands on her shoulder. "You're moving away from the life you thought you were supposed to have in favor of the one you're truly supposed to have. Why should I kill you for that?"
"Thanks… I think." Audrey tried to stand up but sat back down when her legs nearly made her stumble. Then she noticed that the talon-like claws she had acquired were gone, leaving in their place black-colored human nails. "What the…"
"I'm afraid that due to our lack of demonic ingredients, Wanda and I used the near totality of the potion that you and Beetlejuice's child need," Dr. Strange admitted, putting his gloves back on. "You children spent weeks focusing on protecting yourselves, you didn't pay attention to your powers influencing your health."
"How much do we have left?"
"Only four tablespoons."
"Beatrice and I needed that! She was hoping to refill it after we found Gothy's sister…"
"We've been informed of your quest. Even though our location is close to the border separating the Wastelands from the Seussian Lands, it would still take you a while to reach your specific destination, which is why tomorrow morning, we'll open up a portal to drop you right into your destination."
"Really? My god, thank you! That's…" Audrey dropped her smile when she realized something. "Hang on. If you can open up a portal to take us to the Seussian Lands, why are you guys in the Wastelands? Why not teleport yourselves out of here?"
"I know, right?" Dr. Strange let out an exasperated groan. "It's the cruelty of the Wastelands. Those who were stuck in the Wastelands during the Great Destruction are doomed into permanent imprisonment whereas those who came years after the Destruction could come and go as they please… with the chance of being imprisoned for life if the madness of survival gets into their heads. We can get people through our own portals but we can't get through them ourselves. Wanda, Nico, and I can only teleport to other locations in the Wastelands. In a sense, for my friends and I, the Wastelands are the United States of Anarchy's equivalent of the one prison your family and their allies created."
Horrified, Audrey ignored the pain in her legs to rush to the window and force the curtains open. Sure enough, she was treated to the view of the ruined New York City: skyscrapers broken in half, piles of unused vehicles, shattered windows with plants growing them, dried out rivers and parks, malfunctioning billboards, and what looked like a giant lady statue broken in half and covered by spiderwebs. The horror went further down in Audrey's gut as she understood that the Wastelands are for Doctor Strange and his friends what the Isle of the Lost was for Mal, Gothy, Charles, and the other VKs.
A prison.
"Doctor…I know why the universe was destroyed by my family…"
"Don't take it so personally." Doctor Strange said, joining her by the window. "I once had to face an enemy who tried to wipe out half of all life in the universe with the power of the Infinity Stones."
"Did you stop him?"
"Not really. I looked into alternate futures and we only beat him in one of them, I gave up the Time Stone I was supposed to guard, I spent 5 years disintegrated after he used the stones, he destroyed them, my allies used time travel to use the stones from alternate realities to bring everyone back and destroy him, and we lost a lot of allies. Nearly all of them died during the Great Destruction." He shrugged, which only made Audrey worse.
"So you're telling that you were a hero saving the world but thanks to my family, YOU'RE LIVING IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE? Wait… if you're a famous hero, why didn't Auradon come and save you? Why did they forget you?"
"I don't know if they forgot me. I just know they thought I died." Doctor Strange put his hand on the window. The glass blurred, creating the illusion of an untouched city breathing with lights and people moving around. "In a very odd sense, nearly all the dimensions in existence were enduring a period of peace when everyone had accomplished their parts in the stories. I had fought off all the forces of evil with my allies. I was looking into peaceful retirement, free from super-heroism and open to more meditation and studying of the mystical arts.
"In June, we were gathered for a party. Nico, she…" Doctor Strange sighed. "Nico was supposed to marry her girlfriend Karoline. They travelled all the way from Los Angeles to get married in Central Park. Their team, the Runaways, had been working with the Avengers to make that day special for them. It was going fine until New York City underwent a series of unpredicted seismic waves.
"Then we realized it wasn't just in New York but all over the world. Our world was undergoing the same effect that turned Pangea into continents: earthquakes destroyed cities, mountains were being moved, islands were flooded and replaced, oceans and rivers tried up while new ones destroyed coastal towns… Then we saw that other celestial bodies were suffering the same thing. Other planets were being destroyed and their remains were being directed on us like asteroids…" Doctor Strange calmed himself down while his cloak moved on its own to wipe away his tear. "We and every single one of our allies tried to stop the cataclysm, but then the shock wave came… When I woke up, I was still in New York City, but it was all destroyed and in an unfamiliar landscape. Nobody else was there…
"I managed to find Wanda and Nico. They already had enough trauma from before and during their hero years, but the Great Destruction was worse. Wanda had already lost everything before but now whatever she had and whoever she loved were gone permanently. And Nico… her entire team, her mother, her fiancée…"
Now Audrey understood why the unseen woman wanted her dead. "And your allies?"
"Dead." He shook his head. "Even Wong, my closest ally and friend, didn't make it…" He sighed. "In the first years after the Great Destruction, we tried to reach all the borders but the Wastelands refused to let us out. And when we saw that people from the other sides could get in and out… We lost hope."
"Didn't you try to have them bring in help? Are the Wastelands that powerful that you can't escape?"
Doctor Strange shook his head silently.
"Was the Fairy Godmother's wand so powerful, it destroyed everything?"
He scoffed in response. "Her magic stick's ultimate level of power is time travel. Beast and allies took a page from the Avengers' book and used it to collect whatever Infinity Stones could be found in the alternate dimensions… and also took a page from our enemy's book by using the stones to remodel the universe to create their perfect world. And later on, the Darkhold created new chapters. One revealed that Beast had the thousands of Infinity Stones destroyed to prevent the undoing of his utopia. The next one revealed that the destruction of all Infinity Stones created in the Multiverse led to the universe itself making way for a being that symbolizes the instability of their so-called 'perfect world'. A being who represents that good, bad, and anarchy cannot be divided by an ocean or wall. And I happen to be talking to you."
Audrey couldn't even look at him when he finished his long speech.
"Well, it's almost 5:30pm. Wanda's cooking samosas tonight. You ever had Sokovian Paprikash?"
Meanwhile
To say that having dinner with superhero sorcerers in the ruins of New York City wasn't part of the teens' plans was a massive understatement.
Their dinner was on the main level of the tower's top. The damaged floor was covered by thousands of carpets to protect people's feet from stepping on twenty years of debris. The large window leading to the circular balcony made of a multitude of different colored glass pieces; perhaps the sorcerers had done what they could to find similarly sized shards to fill up their window. With the sunlight coming in, the glows from the window filled the room with silhouettes of ravens and kittens.
Communication with the sorceresses was rather difficult. Nico Minoru barely addressed them, contending herself with sitting on an overly-patched up couch and keeping arms and legs crossed as her eyes kept giving death glares to the guests. Only Wanda Maximoff tried her best with civility, allowing Gothy to help her cook dinner and Crystal and Beatrice to set the table. Charles kept staring out the window, his emotions shattered by the sight out there. Ozzy sat aimlessly on the living room floor, a miniature-sized Elvis resting and chewing on some lettuce.
"Thank you for letting us stay for dinner, Ms. Maximoff," Gothy said as she carried the pot of Sokovian Paprikash and gently put it on the table. "And we really apologize for inconveniencing you."
"Well, we… don't really have a lot of visitors who stick around, let alone minors who barely ate…" The forty-something sorceress said quietly. "Besides, I was bound to cook paprikash this week and we still got that leftover baklava."
"Uh… I guess that's good?" Crystal said. A static tune alerted them that Ozzy had suddenly turned on the TV.
"Can you not?" Nico Minoru nearly snapped.
"Nico, it's fine!" Wanda scolded. "Besides, that TV doesn't work well anyway. We cast spells to jam the system."
"Worried about viruses?" Charles turned away from the window.
"Worried about Vox the TV Demon. Stephen encouraged us to cast spells to keep off demons at bay, but we had to jam any electronic device he could use against us," Wanda explained.
"Vox… yuck!" Beatrice gagged. "That microchipped-brained jerk is a pain in the ass! He's like one of those weird stick figures they put outside of car sales, only he's got a flat head and he's weird."
"Yes, he's…" Wanda started chuckling until the TV finally settled on a show and started playing a theme song.
Oh, a newlywed couple just moved to town
A regular husband and wife
"My God…" Nico groaned. Ozzy, in the meantime, kept sitting down but her eyes were glued on the screen, committed to the black-and-white theme song playing before her. "Switch the channel, kid!"
Who left the big city to find a quiet life
WandaVision!
"Hey, that's Ozzy's favorite show!" Beatrice smiled from her chair.
Wanda and Nico looked at her in confusion. "She likes WandaVision?" Wanda asked.
She's a magical gal in a small-town locale
He's a hubby who's part machine
"Yeah. My friend Gladiola says that the show is Ozzy's personal escape route. Not sure what it means."
How will this duo fir in and fulfill all?
By sharing a love like you've never seen.
WandaVision!
Confused by the situation, Charles cautiously walked up to Ozzy. "Are you alright, Osbourne?" She didn't respond to him, as she was too invested in watching the show. She rested her head on her shoulders and laid on her stomach.
Charles tried again. "Did you want to skip or would you like me to bring dinner over?"
Oh, yes! The heart.
Mh-hm!
Well, don't tell me you've forgotten, Vis!
"I think we lost her…" Charles said.
"You think? We've been in the Wastelands for weeks, we didn't even speak to one another, and it surprises you that she might immediately cope by watching a sitcom?" Crystal rolled her eyes.
"Well… if watching the example of my poor trauma coping experience cheers her up, then that's alright," Wanda decided. "I'll make plates for her and Charles so they can eat together."
Charles didn't know what to make of it. He merely nodded and sat by Ozzy. She didn't even respond. Wanda brought them plates and the others got ready at the table when the doors to the stairs opened. Dr. Strange and a now-healthy Audrey came in. Charles quickly glanced at the scene and noticed Wanda's hesitant smile and Nico's death glare. Evidently the two sorceresses were uncomfortable with Audrey's presence.
"Well… dig in everyone!" Wanda tried her best to encourage everyone to start eating. Charles kept shifting his focus between Ozzy barely eating and mostly watching the show, his slow enjoyment of the delicious paprikash, and the awkward dinner happening at the table. It seemed like the table was undergoing a performance of synchronous eating, everyone eating at a small, clock-ticking pattern. Either they really wanted to enjoy the paprikash or the atmosphere was really awkward.
"So… uh, how was Auradon since you left it?" Wanda tried to initiate a conversation.
"Full of self-invested frauds," Audrey said grimly.
"I didn't really stick around for long, but I mostly remember the creepy tar, the creepy stag, and the manhunt." Gothy took a sip of tea.
"When I left, the Radio Demon messed up the whole kingdom." Charles shrugged.
"Messed up how?" Nico asked.
"Karmic retribution on all those who wronged his clients. The place is all wasted now."
"They had it coming." Those words had come out of Audrey's mouth, earning baffled looks from everyone except a somewhat amused Nico and a nervous Beatrice.
"I've never really been. If I did, I was running away like everyone else twenty-years ago." Crystal switched the topic.
"And you?" Dr. Strange asked Beatrice. "Given your skillset, you've been to Auradon."
Beatrice scowled as she ate. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Dr. Strange frowned at her. "So, you've never put your foot in Auradon? Only hybrids can go through both sides of the mist back and forth."
That did cause Audrey to look at Beatrice suspiciously. "Am I to believe that there's something you're lying about to me again?"
"Audrey…"
"For God's sake, have you been doing escapades with your godfather to Auradon behind our backs?" Crystal dropped her fork, causing it to clang on her plate. "Beatrice, what did you do?"
"Nothing!"
"JUST SPILL IT OUT!" Everyone at the dinner table snapped. Charles cringed at the sight while Ozzy just moved on to watching the second episode.
"OK! So, I might have been harassing Audrey's former family behind her back to make sure they stopped trying to get her back all because sacrificing her would keep Penna De Mort's psychotic father from returning from the limbo and destroying Auradon!"
"Wait. Voldemort might return?" Nico asked.
"Yeah, De Mort wanted to sacrifice Maleficent to stop him because of how she wasted her magic! Maleficent's daughter made De Mort think she wasted the third strike so De Mort wouldn't go after Audrey and put her on the chopping block!"
"Wait!" Audrey caused her to pause. "So, all this time, Marius Bogfae was rightfully suspicious of me but Penna doesn't know I actually have the magic she needs to repel her father?"
"Yes! And obviously, she recently went to gloat about the curse she put on your family in Auradon, but Alastor went to her to try removing the curse, and when that didn't work, he told your family that he'd keep you safe while letting Auradon get the apocalypse of a lifetime."
Audrey kept staring at Beatrice blankly. She then shrugged and went back to finishing her paprikash. "Eh. I can live with that."
"AUDREY!" Crystal and Gothy gasped in shock.
"Hey, I am done listening to the shit of my family and their friends destroying and stealing everything just for the sake of making their own saccharine utopia!" Audrey said dismissively. "They might as well watch it get destroyed."
"Tu te fiches de moi, Audrey?" Charles got up. (Are you kidding me?) "I knew people back on the Isle that might die! Didn't it occur to you that after this shit trip, I wanted to see if I could bring my only friend over?"
"Well why didn't you bring Gill when you left?"
"Because I used to think I'd bring you back before I gave him and got shit thrown at me questioning if I wanted to stay for good on the Isle or in Auradon, and based on what we've seen, that's currently a no! I have no problem making a life in this part of the world, but it's completely irrelevant if you have no problem watching our families and friends get killed for something you did!"
"For what I did?" Audrey stormed to confront him. "What I did was merely the end result of their actions! Oh, and I suppose I should sacrifice myself to save their pathetic little paradise made of stolen lands and draconian ideals! I suppose I should be a hero for my selfish family, my uncaring friends, and all those citizens who ditched me or chose to give up their actual lives just to live in comfort! I suppose I could have just killed myself before the first chapter started, would that have satisfied everyone?" She grabbed Charles by the neck, lifting him off the ground just as her fingers started turning into talons. Charles looked frightened when he felt them cutting his skin, but what really scared him was the fury in Audrey's eyes as her hair began to turn pink.
Instinctively, Ozzy used her hair to grab the paprikash pot and hit Audrey on the head with it. Her transformation ceased and she fell on the ground, releasing Charles.
"I think it's best if you retire for the night before you leave," Dr. Strange said quietly. "Whatever happens to Auradon is their responsibility, not yours. Save the concerns on it for after you find Gothy's sister."
The teenagers nodded solemnly.
"Any chance we can bring the baklava upstairs?" Ozzy quietly asked. "I need to patch up Charles… and have a word with him."
Later
Apparently, Ozzy's idea of patching up Charles and discussing over baklava was to go over the rooftop of the ruined tower. For some reason, a willow tree with bioluminescent leaves grew all over, its roots spreading from the floor, down the walls, and reaching the surface. In the dark, starless night, the willow tree was like a big nightlight, illuminating the rooftop in purple and white hues as Ozzy put the last bandage on Charles' neck.
"Hope this feels better," Ozzy said as she closed the first-aid kit. She grabbed a baklava and ate it. "I hope Audrey feels better."
"After the shit that went down, no one will feel better." Charles grimaced. "Can't believe Audrey is willing to let everyone die."
"People deal with shit differently." Ozzy shrugged.
"How are you so damn calm?" Charles frowned as he padded his bandaged neck. Ironically, the cuts he had were nowhere on the areas where Ozzy had given him hickeys. "After everything… You were especially shattered in the train… You were so quiet…You watched a sitcom as if you had no other way to cope. After…" He sighed. "Audrey nearly strangled me… She didn't mean it, but…"
"Of course she didn't. It's all becoming too much for her. Even after leaving everything behind… she can't get rid of the burden of expectations…" Ozzy took another piece of baklava. "She was raised in an environment where she was just seen as a social standing figure. Where no one was expecting her to be anything else than a consort. I can understand that…" She sighed. "I was raised in an environment where I'm expected to be a leader. Where I'm expected to be prepared for everything. I have the training and determination to lead my people, but if I screw up? Like I did on the train when you got captured?"
"You weren't there. We were in different locations. It was out of our control."
"But what kind of ruler will I be if I lose control? If I can't protect even one person then what kind of leader will I be when it's my turn to step in?"
Charles blinked while Ozzy finished her baklava. "Is… Are your parents putting pressure on you?"
"Parent, Charles." Ozzy handed him a baklava. "I know you hate your bitchy mom and psychotic dad's asses, but don't start assuming that everyone has parents!"
"I didn't…" Charles calmed down and took a deep breath. Getting angry wouldn't solve anything, especially considering how nothing was solved with Audrey downstairs. "Would you like to explain it to me so that I properly understand?"
A small smile appeared on Ozzy's face before she took a deep breath and stared at the landscape surrounding them. "Trolls are so different than humans or… most species out there. We… can engage in the ways people can physically but we don't need copulation as a mandatory form of reproduction. Self-love was all my mother, Queen Barb, needed when she created my egg. All on her own. Even after I hatched, she didn't feel the need of a partner to raise me. She thought she'd be enough for me."
"Single parent." Charles took a bite. Damn, it was delicious. "Self-love giving birth. That's unique. Was it just you or can all Trolls do that? Bring life… without someone else in the picture?"
"Nah, it happens 70% of the time." Ozzy sighed. "It just doesn't really happen when royalty is involved. Especially not among the Rock Trolls." She groaned. "I changed years ago and…"
"You changed?" Charles asked. "Please tell me you didn't try to change yourself just to satisfy your kingdom…"
"HELL no!" Ozzy laughed, though Charles couldn't tell if she was laughing because of what he was saying or because she caught something sticky from the baklava on his cheeks and pulled out a tissue to rub it off. "I don't change for the people. I do things to prove I care and that one day, I'll be ready to take my mom's place in the future. You're cute, but I wouldn't change myself just for the sake of satisfying others."
"That's a relief. But then what did you change?"
"I…" Ozzy hesitatingly looked at Charles, perhaps afraid of what she was going to say next, but finally sighed. "I wasn't… born a princess. Sure, I was named after Ozzy Osbourne, but… I changed because I found out who and how I really wanted to be. My mother and best friend Gladiola were highly accepting of me figuring out who I was… The others took a while but they're accepting. As for my people… Well…"
"Still digesting that they're single-parented Rock Troll heir chose to identify as a princess rather than a prince," Charles guessed. "And if I'm getting this right, that kind of change is more accepting from the people the same way one-parent hatching is…" He looked empathetically at Ozzy. "That's why you're so insecure, isn't it? Trolls can hatch eggs on their own, they change to be who they want to be, but while they think it's more acceptable for the people to do it, they think it isn't ideal for royals?"
"As backwards as it sounds, yeah…" Losing her appetite, Ozzy put aside the plate. "Rock Trolls are generally poorly received by other species and still get the most glares from other Troll Tribes. I guess a lot still aren't crazy about having a single-parented, self-identifying Rock Troll heir. I try so hard to prove I can be a competent leader and that I care for those I'll rule without who I am being their reason for… being a failure."
"Well… these ideas can go chew on dog poop for all I care." Charles snorted.
Ozzy stared at Charles. "You're oddly accepting for a guy who endured personal space breaches from me."
"That's the weird shit about the world I came from, doesn't it?" Charles looked up at the willow tree's bioluminescent leaves. "Besides my best friend Gill, I never told anyone on the Isle about my interests. I mean, the son of Judge Claude Frollo, a biromantic asexual. They could have mistaken me for a celibate trying to satisfy Frollo or avoid being lustful by him. They could have thought I had romantic attractions to filles et garçons to piss him off. If anyone had found out I was the result from his fling with Gothel… well, mistaken assumptions, accusations of self-worth and hidden sultriness… Plus I've seen a lot of crazy things with Frollo's goons activities and some other kids on the Isle."
He looked at Ozzy. "But in the end, I just stopped caring. You try to satisfy others and all the efforts go down the toilet. Try to explain yourself and they think you're trying to get attention or self-victimizing. Satisfying yourself, however?" Charles let out a smile. "I don't need to prove myself to anyone but myself. And if somebody wants to get involved, I'm fine with it. As long as they ask me first."
Ozzy chuckled before reaching a hand out and stroking Charles' gray hair. With the light of the willow leaves, it almost looked like his hair was glowing with magic. "You're a ridiculously great, sweet, snarky, murderous dork. You know that, right?"
"I'll take everything but the sweet part as compliments." Charles didn't realize he blushed a bit.
Ozzy chuckled. "Either you're immune or oblivious. If you weren't sweet, you wouldn't be there for us… and you're an exceptional actor. All the old ladies out there fawn over you as the dream son."
"I think I'm oblivious… My growth spurt was fairly recent by a couple of years. I used to have braces…" He groaned. "And a bad case of acne. And that was before I dated Gill for ten hours."
"Ten hours?" Ozzy was a bit taken aback. "It was that bad? How are you guys still friends?"
Charles shrugged. "Childhood friend romances don't work for everyone. And Gill… isn't exactly among the cleverest. He has many qualities, but decision-making and independent thinking aren't among them. We tried to see if we could be more than best friends, but best friends is where we're best at. I wanted us to stay friends… but I didn't want to be in such a partnership where the other partner is over-dependent and clingy."
"Oh." Ozzy tapped her fingers together, nearly creating a tempo. "So… I kinda botched my chances with you. Is that it?"
"You rushed through it." Charles nodded. "And you broke into my personal space even after I said I had a disease."
Ozzy lowered her head in disappointment.
"But you're working on it. I respect that. Not many really give a damn about my opinions. So… I don't know, maybe take the rhythm slowly? I can be direct about it, if you want."
Ozzy's eyes gleamed. "So… are we in-progress partners?"
"That works."
Either it was the way he was calm or the way he smiled at her, but Ozzy saw it as a positive light. She leaned in and pressed a kiss on his lips, far gentler than what she did last time. When he tensed, she feared that she might have broken limits. His arms wrapping over her shoulders and returning the kiss in the same gentle way made her heart burst.
They broke it off to catch some air. "Was that OK?" Ozzy asked, putting her hands on his waist.
"It was good…" Charles tried to catch his breath.
"But not perfect."
"Ozzy, we're just getting settled and you're worried about perfection? We just talked about…" Ozzy interrupted him with another kiss, this time deeper, quicker, and very enamored. "Guess you weren't so worried after all…" Charles commented when Ozzy paused, only to get caught with another kiss. "You just flushed your insecurities down the toilet, didn't you?"
"Your fault." Ozzy chuckled.
"Tu es tellement incorrigible." (You are so incorrigible.)
"Et je t'aime trop." (And I love you too much.)
