Chapter 125
The soft notes gently chimed into silence, and Avalina leaned back contentedly with a soft sigh.
It was early in the morning, far too early to expect the Horned King (he was always exactly on time if she happened to be there, but if she was not he was invariably early) but she was enjoying simply dancing her fingers over the keys in no particular direction, going whichever way the notes suggested.
Sensing someone else near, she glanced over at the door, softly smiling at a half hidden form.
"You can come in, you know," she said gently, "I wouldn't mind."
After a moment, a small green shape slipped around the corner to stand sheepishly in the door.
"I uh. . .thought you might not wanna be heard," Creeper managed out uncomfortably, "Seein' as yer early and all."
Avalina smiled kindly at him.
"I don't mind visitors," she told him, deciding not to answer his statement.
"Would you like to come in?"
After another moment, Creeper slowly obliged, hopping onto the other side of the bench at her invitation.
"You don't mind or nothin'?" He questioned.
Avalina laughed gently.
"Not at all."
She softly began playing again after a moment, letting her fingers slide and dance over the keys in no particular tune, simply letting the notes put themselves together. She loved to do this.
Despite taking care not to look at Creeper and instead focus on the empty air where the music sheets would normally sit, she could tell he was absolutely entranced. His staring at her fingers was a bit unnerving but she ignored it. She wanted to ask him something, but didn't want to stop and break the atmosphere. She could sense a change in Creeper the longer she played, and she finally sneaked a glance at him from the corner of her eye.
He wasn't looking at her directly, just staring blankly at the keys in front of him, but she could sense so much emotion in the air it somewhat startled her. She had never sensed this much feeling coming from the goblin. And she wasn't sure if she should be happy or concerned.
As the notes softly died, Avalina turned to him, a question on her lips, before her eyes widened in surprise.
Creeper turned away, rubbing his eyes, and she realized with a start that he was crying.
"Creeper, what's wrong?" She asked in dismay.
"Nothing," he rasped out, scrubbing fiercely at his face before turning around looking embarrassed.
"How do you do that?"
Avalina thought on how to answer, deciding not to say anything about his emotional condition and embarrass him further.
"Well. . .I just. . .I don't know," she admitted, "But I do enjoy it so."
Hesitantly, she asked, "Would you like me to show you?"
Creeper looked to be on the verge of accepting her offer, before he shook his head.
"I can't do it."
"But you haven't even tried," Avalina protested gently, "So how can you know?"
"Human, I can't make stuff," Creeper said bitterly.
"I never have."
"I can show you," Avalina said.
"It's really not that hard. You just have to want to. Have you ever actually wanted to make anything?"
After a long silence, the goblin admitted his negative.
"No."
"Then you can't say you can't make anything," Avalina told him.
"It's not been proven."
After a moment, she motioned to the keys.
"Press one?"
Creeper looked to be on the verge of refusing, but timidly reached out, and at her silent encouragement, tapped one.
The goblin jumped so badly when it gonged into the air he leaped backward and fell off the bench with a yelp.
Avalina laughed softly, before taking in his abashed expression.
"It won't bite," she told him, "I promise. Try again."
Grudgingly the goblin climbed back up, before hesitantly tapping another key.
The change was immediate. Creeper stiffened, staring in shock at the white ivory beneath his finger, listening.
When it faded into silence he stared slowly up at Avalina, who smiled at him.
"See?" She asked.
"You can so make stuff."
Creeper stared down at himself, reverently lifting his hand from the keys.
"I. . .made something?" he croaked out hoarsely.
Avalina nodded happily.
"Isn't it wonderful?"
Creeper could only nod, before she motioned for him to tap some more keys.
The sound of hesitant musical notes was the only noise in the silence, save for a softly murmured suggestion from Avalina here and there.
It continued for a very long time, until the clock chimed the half-hour til noon and Creeper stopped.
"I better go before he comes," he mumbled, hopping off the bench.
Avalina's heart felt heavy as the goblin moved away.
"Thanks for lettin' me," he mumbled, gesturing at the piano.
"We'll do it again soon, alright?" Avalina asked, trying to cheer him up.
The goblin looked more cheerful and nodded, before slipping quickly out and leaving her alone, feeling saddened.
Creeper had been abused so often and so long by the Horned King, Avalina wondered rather frequently if it were even possible to fix things between them. The Horned King did not like the goblin, that much was blatantly clear, and never had, for an obscure reason. Creeper had always feared the lich, for less than obscure reasons, but the root of the problem was shrouded in mystery, much like the soil enshrouds the roots of the fiercest brambles.
"What is that?" Creeper asked skeptically that afternoon as Avalina sat down on the library's couch with bits of rope in her hands.
"Something for you to make," Avalina answered, holding it up.
"I'm going to show you how to braid. The curtains at the glass window need a new string to hold them back, and you can make it. And if it doesn't look right," she continued, cutting off Creeper's protest, "We'll take it apart and redo it. How's that?"
"Fine," Creeper finally groaned.
Avalina slowly passed the straps back and forth, showing him, before giving it to him and letting him try.
"The key is to alternate them and keep them crossing paths," Avalina instructed, watching. Leaning over, she helped guide his hands the correct way, before moving back and letting him go.
An hour later Creeper had quite literally reached the end of his ropes. His "braided" strand looked nothing like Avalina's neat, pretty ones at the top and his temper had reached breaking point.
"It looks awful!" He snarled, tossing it down with disgust.
"It doesn't even look like a braid! I told you I can't make anything!"
"Yes, you can," Avalina told him soothingly.
"You made something on the piano today, and this is only your first try braiding. You'll get it."
"I didn't make anything!" Creeper snapped.
"Nothing but a mess. Look at it!"
He gestured angrily at the pathetic excuse for a braid, which, honestly, looked less like a braided rope and more like Arran's attempt at knotting his own shoelaces. It was awful. Her brother never could work with string or rope or anything else like it, inevitably finding himself in the worst of predicaments with it. Even now, as an adult, he could barely tie his shoes and Avalina had regularly teased him about it.
The thought earned a half-smile and a whole heartache from Avalina.
Biting her lip and pushing the memory away, determined not to cry, she picked the "braid" up and began skillfully unraveling the woven knots.
"I see what my first attempt looked like," she said softly, working the strands apart.
Creeper snorted.
"You couldn't have ever made something that bad."
"Yes, Creeper, I have," Avalina said.
"Something good or beautiful rarely springs from your efforts on the first try. It took me a long time to learn the things I can do now. I. . ."
Here she hesitated, wondering if she really wanted to say something this personal to the goblin, and he looked up.
"What?" He asked.
Avalina took a breath, making up her mind after a moment.
She wanted to be a friend to Creeper. That meant making some sacrifices. Any friendship required it. That meant she would have to actually talk. Tell things about herself. Even if it was painful.
"I was so horrible on the first few piano lessons, the teacher. . ."
Avalina swallowed.
". . .Didn't want to bother with me anymore."
The goblin looked up at her in surprise, hearing the pain in her voice, though faded, still as potent as the day she must have received those cutting words.
"But. . .but. . ."
Creeper couldn't believe it. That music she had made today was so beautiful, he felt unlike he had ever felt before. Free and happy, tired and melancholy, peaceful and content, yet lonely and yearning, all at once.
"How could anyone call your music horrible?" He asked, shocked.
"Because it was," she admitted.
"It didn't sound anything like it does now."
"How did you convince the teacher to continue?" Creeper asked.
"I didn't," Avalina answered.
"King Gwydion can be very. . .persuasive."
Here a faint smile made itself known.
"He threatened to lock him in with Mitternacht if he refused to teach me anymore."
Here Avalina laughed.
"He took great pains afterward."
"It paid off," Creeper replied, smirking at the mental image of a human running in circles, screaming their head off inside the stall with a furious black horse snapping at their trousers.
"So don't give up on your first try," Avalina encouraged him.
"I believe you can, and I'm not giving up on you. And I don't want you to give up on yourself either, understand?"
At Avalina's smile, Creeper couldn't help but give her a very faint one in return.
"Whatever you say, human."
Avalina laughed and reached for her water on the table and tilted it up for a drink.
"Whatever you say, Glitterman."
Creeper snorted.
"Ha ha," he said sarcastically, "I'm just *dying* of..."
The rest of his sentence morphed into a gasp of horror, and he jumped, his arm hitting the back of Avalina's glass and effectively dumping it all over her.
Avalina gagged as it promptly went up her nose and sloshed all over her.
Coughing, she blinked the water from her eyes, only to gasp as well, sensing the goblin beside her freeze into a block of ice.
The Horned King stood there, right outside the ring of furniture, staring very hard at them, and Avalina could sense his anger.
He was heading to the library, where he knew he could usually find her at this time of afternoon. He enjoyed her company, and his chest warmed at the thought of the smile she gave every time she laid eyes on him.
He did not deserve it, but seeing it made him. . .happy.
Could Happiness even be possible for an undead?
Nearing the library, he could hear her talking, and he entered with mild puzzlement, freezing upon seeing Creeper by her on the couch.
The pathetic creature started in horror at the sight of him (as he well should) before knocking Avalina and nearly choking her on her own drink.
He felt the atmosphere change immediately, and he sensed the goblin freeze up in terror and Avalina stiffen at it, causing him to faintly do so himself.
As he approached, he felt the goblin shrink and the girl tremble, and he paused a moment to compose himself, before glaring down at the thing that was to blame for a good deal of his problems.
"Are you trying to drown her?" He dredged out, his eyes black as pits.
"N-no Sire!"
Creeper cried, groveling in a panic as he tried to think of anything that could get him out of his inevitable punishment.
The Horned King was on the verge of throttling the pathetic creature, but with an effort restrained his habit, seeing Avalina watching fearfully and remembering how she had begged him not to hurt the goblin the last time she saw them together.
"Out."
The word was a snarl.
The goblin fled the room like lightning, the Invisible closing the door behind, leaving an awkward, frightened silence between them.
He felt Avalina shrink as he turned back to her, and he lowered his head in faint guilt and regret.
He had been trying to rebuild her trust of him, and now he guessed he had set himself back severely. He should not have lost his temper. But seeing that goblin in here...
He tried to think of something, but there was nothing he could say to her that would justify his actions.
He was tinkering with the idea of simply leaving when her soft voice brushed against his ears.
"You. . .needn't be so cruel to Creeper," she nearly whispered out.
The Horned King bristled.
"Compared to his normal treatment, that was anything but cruel," he ground out, eyeing her almost harshly, taking in her bedraggled appearance.
"I thought it was rather. . .generous."
An awkward silence passed, in which Avalina dropped her head and the Horned King silently fought with himself, deciding not to remind her that he was world renowned as the very epitome of cruelty.
He could order them not to talk to each other, but what good would that do? They had been talking for months and it would serve little purpose, other than widen the gap between himself and the girl that he had been trying to close.
Dare he say it, he had been rather successful. But only because Avalina had been willing to give him yet another chance. Another one, when he hadn't even deserved the first.
He had not hurt the goblin in months. Surely she had seen? He bristled faintly at the thought of his milder behavior toward the Creeper going unnoticed, but then he realized that this was the first time she had seen him and the goblin in the same place together since the Invisibles had bedazzled the creature and tossed him into the room for a laugh.
The Horned King's mouth twitched faintly at the memory, hearing Avalina's sweet laughter resound inside his head.
"I will try to improve on my treatment of the goblin," he dredged out, causing her to look up.
His voice took a faintly sarcastic tint.
"Shall I toss him out the window or throw a book at his head to please you?"
Avalina's eyes widened in dismay before she realized he wasn't being serious and giggled.
"Maybe tell the Invisibles to glitter him again," she laughed, standing, "They always do such a marvelous job."
The Horned King gave a dark, soft chuckle that made her laugh even harder.
"Indeed."
To my new reviewer, Akemi Yuri: So *you're* the Italian that's been reading my story. Lol! I always wondered if this site was glitching up or there really was an Italian reading my story. XD But girl, just. . .wow. I'm so glad you decided to leave a review! It literally made my week! XD It always raises my morale so much, getting reviews. . .I could just hug you! *hugs* Lol Don't worry about your English either, I had no trouble at all reading it and you're better at it then half the teenagers I know. XD I hope to hear from you again sometime, and I really hope you keep enjoying this story:)
To DarkraixCresselia: Bahahahahah! I do that with my breath too on cold days! XD And I was tempted to let Avalina call ol' Bramble-Britches the Grinch, but Creeper beat her to it several dozen chapters back and I didn't want to recycle the idea. XD
To everyone else: Thank you so much to all the reviewers, I value each one tremendously. =D Thank you:)
Also, Today (January 6, 2015) is a very special day! Today, my readers, is the one-year anniversary of Hope For The Heartless. Today was the day I sat down and wrote the first two chapters. I've been writing this thing a while now. XD I can't wait to see how many chapters I have when June rolls around. (The month I put it up last year) And last of December, I passed 9000 views. How cool is that? XD