NOTES: hiya y'all! If you're new to my works, please continue reading, and enjoy!
If you're not.. well, I'm sorry that I left off on my other projects. I will definitely try to finish this one (I already have 8,000 words of it written, I just need to edit them), but I'm not sure I'll come back and finish the other ones. It just became stressful over time, and the joy got sucked out of it.
This story, however, is full of joy, and makes me very happy to write! Please leave a comment if you wish, it always makes my day. And, without further ado, NEW STORY!
~Vinny 🌺
PS. No spoilers, but dont be fooled by the first chapter. I'm just a bit of a dramatic, so... yep.
The copper fence around Pemberley stretched on and on in every direction. Endless trees sprawled forth on either side, only interrupted by a dusty dirt road and the occasional rustle of wildlife. It was majestic; everyone said so.
To William Darcy, the heir to the estate, it was boring.
He had been down the 'endless' fence, and found a small brook on the other side. He had gone fishing in the lake, and waded through the tall grass. He had already explored all there was to explore, in his own opinion.
And he was almost eleven years old, so really it was common sense that his opinion was fact.
Currently, the little Darcy was walking a well-trod path down to the edge of the gate, by a fork in the dusty road. There sat his favorite tree— the BEST tree.
It had grown up and out, every which way, branches expanding low across the messy forest floor: perfect for climbing. The thick canopy sheltered him from the heat of summer, and kept him reasonably warm when the months turned dark.
And, best of all, there was JUST enough light to read by!
Today, Darcy had brought a book called 'Robin Hood' that father had recommended to him. He was excited about reading it. So excited, in fact, that he had almost smiled.
Can you imagine?
But just as Darcy was thinking about this, and his lips were MAYBE about to curl upwards, an acorn hit him on the nose.
"OW!" He cried, and glared up to yell some swear words uncle had taught him at whatever uppity squirrel had assaulted the HEIR of PEMBERLEY.
He didn't see a squirrel though. He saw a child, a little smaller than he was, perched precariously on his favorite tree branch, in HIS favorite tree.
"What do you want!" She shouted down at him.
Darcy stopped and stared.
She had thick, matted hair that was deceptively soft— a mane of grizzly bear fur that hung loose and uneven around her chin. Her face was covered in mudsplatter freckles, there was an angry golden spark in her eyes. She bared her teeth. "What do you want, intruder?"
Frightened (but definitely not admitting it), Darcy stumbled back, tripping over some stick and toppling to the ground. He cried out, then bit down fiercely on his bottom lip, refusing to show any more pain. He glared tearfully up at the wild girl sitting in his tree.
"What do you want?" He countered harshly. "You're on MY land!"
Technically, it wasn't his yet. But father HAD said that when he came of age, it would be his, and that was only… what? Eight years away? He was already more than halfway there.
But that didn't seem to matter to this grizzly cub of a girl.
"You don't own the land," the girl scornfully said, her face twisting into itself. "It's land. It's been here for forever."
Darcy couldn't help rolling his eyes at that. The girl must have seen him do that, because she picked a scrap of bark and threw it at him. He dodged.
"Hey!" Darcy frowned up at her, "You almost hit me."
"Oh darn," she smiled back. "Hafta try harder next time."
His mouth fell open and his eyebrows lowered, shocked at her audacity— he was WILLIAM DARCY! Father had said he was special, part of a special family. That was why he never got to see any kids his age, because he would make them sad that they weren't special too. But THIS girl was rude! She acted like he wasn't special at all!
In fact, right at that very moment, she was laughing at him.
"You— you look—," (she could barely get the words out, and there were tears in her eyes) "You look like a fish!"
Darcy's mouth snapped shut. "I do NOT!"
"FISH boy, FISH boy," she cried, rocking herself back and forth and fairly shrieking with laughter.
Then something funny happened. The branch thicker, than Darcy's arm, wobbled. It bounced and swung and snapped, and there was a scream. Darcy saw a flash of grizzly bear brown streak its way towards the hard earth, and he felt the jarring sensation of his bones bumping together as his legs pushed off the ground.
Something heavy and warm and smelling like honey broke through the air, and crashed into his arms.
Something heavier slammed into the dirt behind him.
When Darcy opened his eyes, the sun was bleeding out gold through a mess of brown hair that was covering his face. The smell of honey was all around him, pressing in on his chest. His arms were wrapped tight around a bundle of skirts and legs that were too stunned to squirm.
"Ow," the bundle said, faintly. "Ow ow ow."
"Are you alright?" He asked the bundle, and it groaned in reply.
"My knee… it… aah… don't… it hurts…"
Darcy shook his head, and the hair that wasn't his fell from his eyes. The girl was laying on top of him, and there were thin streams of water rushing from her eyes. Her eyes were beautiful. Brown and red and fiery orange, they sparkled like autumn breeze.
She was much smaller than he had thought.
"Here," Darcy said, rising to his elbows, "Lemme see."
The girl sniffed, and reluctantly presented her leg. With a panicked sort of annoyance, Darcy tore away the dumb skirts and sucked in a breath at the sight.
Right in the middle of her knee, a large gash ate into her soft pink flesh. Blackish red blood oozed around the edges, and dirt clung to it in bits and pieces.
"Is it bad?" The girl asked, with her eyes squeezed shut.
"Uhm… It… We need to get you inside. There should be a doctor nearby, and there's probably… Father probably knows what to do."
More and more red stuff was pouring out of the gash. It was making the bear cub pale, and her face was beginning to droop.
"Yes..," she breathed, shivering, "Father will know what to do. All his… books. Yes." Then her eyes snapped open, and her hands grasped at Darcy's shirt collar. "Wait! But! But Father is in his study, with… it's far! Far, far away… And Mama…"
"I'll take you back to MY father," Darcy said. He looked at her for a response, but she gave no indication she had heard.
The girl was breathing shallowly, and her hair was growing damp with sweat. All the fight was leaking out of the gash on her knee, staining the leaves red below her.
"Right," he swallowed. He didn't know why, but there was a pull in his stomach, pulling him towards her. He wound his arms around her back, and pulled her to her feet. "Come on."
The girl staggered forward, yipping every time her right leg bent. More and more blood came out. Darcy hadn't known a person that small HAD that much blood.
Trying to distract her from the injury, he politely inquired, "So. What's your name, then?"
"Lizzy," the bear cub managed to say.
"Lizzy," he repeated. "That's a good name. I'm William."
She squinted up at him, her freckles mashing into one another as her face screwed up. "Are you Prince William? William IV?"
"No! No," Darcy laughed. "I'm not a prince, silly."
"Look like one," Lizzy said, and she smiled. She had a very nice smile. Broad and white, like a paintbrush stroke across her face.
He found it a little harder to swallow this time. "..Thanks. I'm not one, though."
Limping along, leaving a trail of crushed grass and drips of blood, they had crested the hill that opened up the valley, and Lizzy, being the prim and proper young lady Darcy was learning she was… screamed right in his ear.
"AAAH! OH WOW! THIS IS WHERE YOU LIVE!?"
"Um. Yes," Darcy acknowledged, one hand over his ear.
Lizzy's broad smile was pushing up at her fine brown eyes, making them almost disappear with glee. "You were wrong! PRINCE! You live in a castle, so you must be a prince!"
Darcy smiled shyly down at her. Her excitement was infectious. "If you want, I could— I could give you a tour! If you'd like."
Lizzy was almost certainly about to say yes, but then she winced, as if only now remembering her bleeding knee. "Maybe… maybe another day," she half-smiled.
He nodded, and didn't say anything else. They needed to get back to the house, and fast. Darcy had skinned his knees before, but they never bled that much. Lizzy's stockings were a mess of scarlet, and all the color had gone from her face.
"I.. I need to sit down," she said after a few more steps.
Darcy hummed, and peered worriedly toward the still distance walls of Pemberley. If they sat down now, it wasn't likely they would make it the rest of the way.
"Just a little farther," he replied, hoping it was true.
Lizzy's head went up and down, then stayed down, and she started to drift dangerously forward. He caught her before she fell.
"It- It's okay," Darcy assured her. "It's not much farther."
Lizzy's cheeks were wet. Her lips trembled. "I… down… it hurts… please…," she whimpered, and something pinched in his chest.
"I'm sorry," he said, adjusting his arms to hold her upright, "We gotta keep going. We gotta…"
The girl was crying now, in earnest. Sobs jumped up from her throat, and she tried to swallow them before they escaped. Barely any breath went in or out. "Please… William… Please…"
"Just a little farther. You can do this."
Darcy's heart was being torn from his chest, he was sure of it. He gulped, and tried not to cry himself. They were close to the walls now. So.. so close…
Lizzy became dead weight in his arms. Darcy cried out, and when he saw the way her eyes had rolled back, he screamed. Again and again, he screamed, until someone came from inside the grand house she had thought was a palace. Her body was swept away in a tidal wave of footmen and maids, arms and gloves and shrieking instructions pushing her this way and that. The last thing Darcy saw was the back of her head, lolling backwards into her spine, the grizzly bear fur hanging limp around her chin.
And then the door closed, and he saw the blood on his hands.