"What!"
While Lance knew that this being before him was not quite human, this was a very human moment for the ethereal woman. She had squawked, disgruntled, taking a step back as her elegant fingers curled into two tight fists. "No."
It was apparent to the boy that she was struggling to find the right words to properly portray the effect that his proclamation had on her, mouth opening and closing, small sounds as words half formed halted before fully leaving her.
Lance was about to ask if she was okay, when her mouth snapped shut and her eyes narrowed in a decisive manner.
"You are gifted with one more attempt to guess at what I am mortal."
"Why only one! That's not fa—"
She held up her hand and he wasn't sure if her presence truly was enough to steal his voice from him or if perhaps she had cast a magical spell over him to silence.
"You've already used 2 of your bids." She stated as if this were the most obvious thing.
His gulp echoed in a suddenly empty head. "Or what?" He croaked out.
"I'm not sure yet…. But I know I can come up with something….creative for you."
Lance struggled to grasp at some sense of reality, eyes falling from her empyrean visage to land on the shrubbery surrounding him to try and ground himself.
A chilling thought floated to the surface of his mind as he sought the right answer.
What if she was a dream?
What if all of this was a dream?
Breath caught against the back of his throat and Lance shook his head to rid it…. Even if that was true, he wasn't yet ready to return to the nightmare of his reality.
So long as he kept playing along something would work out…. Right?
Pulling in a shaky breath, ready to be wrong as he delivered his shot in the dark answer, and with it, slipped into a persona that felt more natural for him, hanging onto any small aspect for normalcy as a ballast as he finally spoke.
"Girl it doesn't matter to me what you are, cuz you so fine—" Lance rearranged his features into the flirtatious smirk that Marco was famous for, which the young boy had mimicked time and time again in the bathroom mirror, trying to perfect and make it his own.
The woman's expression did not shift an inch but remained as smoothed out as satin, and as cool…. She looked almost….bored now. He ran a hand back through his hair in a way he'd seen Marco do many times, mussing it before held up both of his hands, fingers pointing at her as he tried again. "Whatever you are, must have some kinda magic nina, you are enchanting." To punctuate the end of this, and perhaps cover up the slight tremble of his voice, Lance wiggled his brows.
A number of silent seconds ticked by where all he could do was hold his breath, and his pose, mouth growing drier by the instant, tongue seeming to grow larger behind his teeth, flashing as the smile froze with nerves upon his features. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to talk again.
The woman continued to stare at him, through him, stone faced and as still as a sculpture. Lance's posture wilted a bit, his false bravado wavering and just about to fall when a sound like the tinkering of many small glass bells rang out through the forest, echoing back at them and creating a fanciful harmony that sent chills down Lance's spine.
It took him a moment to understand that she was laughing and the boy felt a tightness within his chest loosen, breath whooshing out of him in a relieved sigh. He even allowed a genuine, if tentative, smile to raise his lips.
"Oh I like you human!" She began to turn away from the mortal, shooting a dazzling smile his way. "It's been fun!"
All in one instant, in the time it took for Lance to drag in a sharp, almost painful inhalation, the boy dropped all of his previous pretense, this veneer thin facade, and any thought of hesitation or second guesses fell away.
"Wait!" He called out, thankful at least that this time his voice did not fail him. Without thinking too hard about what he was about to do Lance lunged after her. Shocked when his fingers succeeded in capturing her wrist. It wasn't the only shock he received though, as a volt of something almost like electricity jolted up his entire arm from where he was touching her… had been touching her. For even as his heart skipped in momentary triumph the uncanny creature slipped through his desperate grasp as if she were nothing more than water.
"Please wait!"
Lance wasn't sure what stopped her: the desolation that crackled in his voice, or pure curiosity. But she paused in the deep shade of a large tree. Despite the shadows that the, abundant leaves cast over her, the jeweled eyes still glittered just as bright, almost glowing, like the marks upon her cheeks, which cast a soft luminosity across the rest of her elegant features. She didn't say a single word, simply stood in an unnatural stillness as the silence spread out from her, halting the very breeze itself. Her sharp gaze bore into the human boy. It paralyzed him to the spot. Even though he felt as if he had no breath left in him, and his voice felt trapped by the sheer weight of her eyes upon him, they seemed to compel him to speak his truth.
"You might not be the witch! But you must know where she is! I have to find her!" Lance barely bit back the thick sob that rose from the heaviness in his chest up his throat like bile. Despite this his eyes felt strangely dry. Once again nothing more than her look alone urged more words from him.
"I- I need a wish granted." He choked out, heat rushing to his cheeks in a sudden flush of chagrin. It was the first time he'd said it out loud, and it sounded so dumb. So absolutely childish.
A thoughtful look crossed over the woman's feature's, which had previously been so fixed, devoid of any other emotion. The change was clear even to Lance at this distance.
"Tell me your story human child, and I shall see what it is worth." As she spoke her stare broke away from him finally and he stumbled forward as if he'd been suddenly released from a hold. His own eyes lowered as he found his footing.
The second time telling it was no easier than the first, but even through the lump in his throat Lance was able to articulate this nightmare…. To make his need clear.
But as he spoke the boy felt as if…. As if he were selling something. It was a gross, itchy sensation that crawled over his skin, and still his story tumbled forth. He wasn't sure if he could stop, but he didn't try.
When blue eyes rose to look back up at the woman he started. She'd neared him again, moving on silent feet to close the distance. So close now that their noses were almost touching. But this wasn't the only thing that caught him off guard.
Her gilded eyes were wide, and glistening with…. Tears?
Hope, Lance was beginning to realize, was such a dangerous thing. The frail, feathered curse of it, so small when he'd first hatched this unlikely plan, grew larger in his chest. Blooming wide until it felt as if there was no more room within his rib cage, an almost suffocating presence.
"C-can you help me?" Lance leaned towards her even more, the possibilities filling his mind, "You have magic too! I don't even need the witch! Maybe you could do something! I could…. I could bring Rachel out…..no that probably wouldn't work… or! Or, I could show you where I live and you could cast a spell, I guess maybe you don't do that though, you could do…. Whatever it is that you do…. What is it that you do?" He knew he was getting ahead of himself, that he should stop from rambling like this. But he was afraid now... of the quiet, and what could break it. Afraid that a single word, a solitary action, could shatter the fragile blossoms that had filled him, and the shards would stab into his heart. All of this fear was making him babble. He didn't want to give her any time to answer.
It didn't matter. A hand that was not exactly warm, but electric with energy shot out, covering his mouth and sending small shocks down through him.
"I'm so very sorry Lance—" she spoke in a low calming tone, as if to a wild animal. The type of voice that could easily tame a feral beast.
The boy only wondered for a moment, he couldn't remember if he'd ever given this elven creature his name.
"I cannot help you."
As she spoke Lance bit the inside of his cheeks. It gave him excuse enough for the sudden sting in his eyes.
Her gaze slid past his own, in such a way that reminded the boy of guilt, if she could even feel such a thing.
"Why~" His voice was muffled by her hand, but despite that it cracked at the very end.
"It is…. A hard thing for me to explain, and it would be harder for a mortal, and a child such as you to understand."
He turned his head, panting as his mouth was finally freed. When he licked his lips a sweet taste lingered over his tongue.
"You said my story might be wroth something!" His accusation was croaked out of him, and he felt that all too familiar sensation clawing up his throat. With a great effort he pushed the need to cough away, trying not to think about what it meant.
It was the first time that the woman looked doubtful, her lightly colored brows pulled together, angling downwards as she worried her bottom lip.
"It is a story with a high price…. Only two other human's outside your blood have been told."
Lance bit back his questions of how she could possibly know that and what that even meant. Why would something like that be important? He didn't want to distract her at this possibly critical junction.
"Well… how much is it worth? What can you do for me? Do you know anyone who can help me?" Lance struggled to choose the right inquiries, but so many swirled around and around in his head, dizzying and overwhelming.
The woman opened her mouth and excitement buzzed through Lance's veins, that treacherous hope rising once more in him like a tide. Pulled forth by her as if she were the moon.
But before coveted answers could drop in her beautiful tones, a nearby tree with lightly colored bark and a slim trunk, low hanging branches, curved and bending, leaves a silvered mint that shivered in the slight breeze that had returned, lent low of it's own accord, as if bowing to a great gust, only… there was no such wind around them. Before he could process exactly how this was happening the birch distinctly whispered, "Allura we can't!"
"Uh…." Lance felt at this point that he had fallen down the rabbit hole. He knew what he wanted to ask next. It wasn't that words failed him, as they'd been doing quite a lot over the last few days. Nor had his voice abandoned him. It was simply that 'did a tree just talk' was so ludicrous, too insane.
It was so easy to fall back into the belief that, after all, he was dreaming. Maybe exhaustion had finally caught up and claimed him on his run and even now he was sleeping beneath a tree... or perhaps slumber had taken him sooner than that, and Marco had carried him from the car into his room…. It was even possible that sleep had never released him from it's grasp, and these were all playing out behind his eyelids back in Hunk's room.
Just like the time before, when this possibility rose in his thoughts, Lance leaned into it readily. He preferred this dream, no matter how crazy it got, to his reality.
"Oh come now Romelle!"
"We are not supposed to even talk to humans!" Yeah the tree was definitely talking, in almost the exact same unworldly accent. And this elven woman was talking back!
"I know but this one is so very interesting. And has such an awfully sad story! Are you not moved by his plight? Is it not the single most sympathetic origin?" Lance couldn't quite tell if he was being made fun of. But he bristled regardless. Unsure of how in the world he would defend himself against a magical woman and a talking tree, and yet opening his mouth anyway, ready to interrupt the charade of charity…. That is until the next words were uttered. The one named Allura (and really, what an unequivocally fitting name) brought up her hand to cover her lips as she whispered. Making it seem as if it were a secret, though he still picked up what she said; "And can you not sense his latency? There is something different about this human child…" After a moment she sighed when there was not an immediate response from the foliage, straightening up. "You can desist in your attempt to obscure yourself. It has obviously failed. Mortals are not that dumb" This was said in a normal tone, though it was stained ever so slightly with irritation.
"Are you sure?" The expression used by the tree was disbelieving but regardless the wispy limbs began to glow a soft golden hue, like wheat swaying in a lazy summer's day zephyr. This glimmer split and refracted, the silhouette of the tree in the midst of this began to shift. Becoming shorter, the curves growing more unified and defined to a form familiar. As the light faded from the area and the hair on the boy's arms and neck began to settle he blinked a few times, unsure if he believed what was before his eyes.
Another aerial beauty stood where the tree had been. Her hair the gentle almond blond of a spring daffodil. Her eyes were not as bright as Allura's, but they were just as celestial; housing a strange color somewhere between pink and purple and yet not a human hue. Her ensemble was stranger than the other's as well. Not quite as elegant, but just as foreign. The swaths of pink and teal fabrics hung more loosely from her slim frame. The air about her was not quite so royal. Her feet settled fully onto the earthen ground, barely disturbing the fallen leaves of seasons past. In fact, Lance noticed for the first time that neither of them made an impression upon the detritus of the forest floor. Unlike Allura, even as the magic of this transformation fully released in the atmosphere, her skin still kept a faint radiance, as if a small star resided within her, just beneath her flesh.
The entire process had only taken the amount of time for his heart to beat thrice, and yet seemed to have stopped entirely.
None of Marco's pick-up lines had prepared him for this, how to talk to a girl who just turned at will from a tree. Before Lance could react though Allura grabbed this new magical lady that had joined them, turning her to face Lance.
"Just look at him Romelle!" She insisted, and Lance balked, unsure of what to do with himself.
"He's got dirt on his face." Obviously this new…. Whatever it was they were, was not impressed. With a wrench Romelle freed herself from Allura's grasp and neared Lance, leaning over to study him, a look of perpetual disdain plastered across her otherwise pretty features. She lifted his arm and let it drop, her touch was cold, and the energy that lingered behind her fingers was like the brush of a leaf against Lance's skin. She continued to inspect him, circling and prodding. At the end of it she stopped before him, arms crossed. If the look upon her face was anything to go by, Romelle remained unimpressed, and a might suspicious.
"I don't know Allura, I do not see what you see."
"Oh you must though! Here—right here in his eyes—"
"Hey!" Allura's grip was shockingly strong as she gripped his chin, raising it until the sunlight hit his retina.
"Hmmm…." It still did not sound as if the other was convinced. But she said nothing more.
"Can you not see that inherent talent? It's as clear as day! I'm sure he'd have a natural gift towards enchantment.
"Most human's do, they are just too blind, or stupid, to see it."
The two of them continued to talk about him as if he was not there. For a small bit of this Lance was too shocked to feel any which way about it.
But as his awe wore off, irritation replaced it.
"—At the most he might have a spark, but at he worst he could be a spy. Did you ever think of that Allura?"
"Hey-I'm not a spy." He sputtered, not even thinking before he interjected in his own defense. Romelle leaned in closer to him with such speed that the boy stumbled backwards, almost falling.
"That's exactly what a spy would say!"
Squaring his shoulders, the irritation giving way to annoyance, a much easier emotion to handle than any of the other ones that had ravaged through him recently. He held onto it like a shield.
"I don't know what you're on about! I just want to save my sister!"
"Oh really?" She was still up in his face. "What's your sister's name then? How old are you even? How long have you lived here? Where are you from?"
All of these questions were fired at him rapidly, with no space given in between them for any answers. Lance's head spun but still he interjected her flow.
"Rachel, thirteen, since I was a toddler or something, for as long as I can remember at least, we moved when I was real little, and Cuba."
"A likely story! Tell me—"
Allura stepped between the two of them.
"Leave the boy be Romelle. Do you really believe that I would not see through any deceptions?"
Lance was breathing heavily as he watched the two of them, the silence stretching out. Tears stung at his eyes and without realizing it he'd raised his fists.
Romelle's carnation gaze flicked back and forth between the two of them, before softening, a thoughtful look crossing over her features.
"Do you think that Shiro could help him? Or even would?"
A new name…. was another of these fae-like beings going to appear, transform from a rock or a bush. Lance was distracted from looking around by the dazzling smile that lit up Allura's features.
"It doesn't hurt to ask!" She giggled, turning to look fully at this mortal boy once more. "come human~ catch us if you can!"
Before he could fully work through what had been said, the two elven women had taken flight, almost literally. Their feet barely touched the forest floor as they danced gracefully away from him, twirling between the dense trees.
An excited sort of panic that Lance couldn't quite pin down jolted through him like a current of lightning. He couldn't be left behind. Not if they were truly offering his one chance to save Rachel!
He took off after them. Sneakers sliding against the sediment of decaying leaves. The continued sound of their laughter led him more than their tricky shimmering forms and he wondered what would happen when he caught them. He did his best to keep up with them- but the two of them always managed to stay just barely out of his reach.