Chapter 26: A Star as Bright as Day
As Layla and Ford were walking back to the area that they had left Rick in the two were laughing at a story that Ford was sharing about his childhood with his twin brother.
"Yeah, Dad was furious that he would do that," Ford laughed loudly.
"Your brother would sneak around and pull pranks at the temple?" Layla giggled with a huge smile. "And I didn't know you're Jewish," she added.
"Was," Ford corrected. "Once I was in middle school and high school science kind of changed that. My mother didn't really care, but my dad was a little upset. Stanley basically just said screw it once we hit ninth grade."
Layla gives a sad look. "I… I never had a religion…" she admits. "So, I wouldn't really know."
"Gravity Falls has quite a few churches…" Ford pointed out, an eyebrow raised skeptically.
"I may be from Gravity Falls… but at the same time I'm not really…" Layla then says, a sad look crossing her face, all the laughter from before gone.
Ford asks, "What do you mean?"
Layla takes a deep breath. "What I mean is… I wasn't allowed to leave our house… From what I remember of my mother she didn't like the outside world and was more than happy to stay cooped up. Sometimes I would sneak out… but people were scared of me thinking I was a ghost since no one ever saw me before and just made something up."
Ford's heart ached painfully, seeing her sad expression. "What was your mother's name?" he then asked gently, realizing he never really asked about her mother.
"Annabeth," Layla smiled sadly. "Annabeth Lyle."
Ford stops walking for a moment and looked at her stunned. "Annabeth Lyle?" he repeated the name with emphasis. "As in, the teenaged girl who ran away from home and was missing?"
Layla shrugs as she stopped. "I don't know," she honestly replied. "I really don't know much about my mother. How would you know that?"
"It's a famous missing person case," Ford tells her. "Your father really never told you much of her?" Layla nods her head in response. "What an asshole," Ford then mutters. He then takes her hand gently and begins walking again.
Layla then beings humming as they walked, it was the same gentle hum she did when she was happy about something. Ford slows his pace, entranced by her humming.
"What song is that?" he finally asked.
"Hm?" Layla replied, not really paying attention. "What was that, Ford?"
"What song is that?" Ford repeats. "You hum it a lot."
Layla's face turns a deep crimson. "Sorry… I didn't know I was…" she murmurs, clearly embarrassed.
Ford let's go of Layla's hand and stops to face her. He puts his hands up in a surrendering position, as if it to say he meant no harm. "No, no! I don't mind, it sounds very pretty!" he assured her.
Layla's electric blue gaze averts his chocolate brown. "Pretty…? It's just humming…" she says softly. She then looks at him again and takes a deep breath. "It's a lullaby I barely remember my mother singing to me when I was very small."
"How does it go?" Ford then asks, clearly curious. He barely remembered his own mother singing to him and Stanley when they were being tucked into their beds at night. Most of the time she sang a Hebrew song to lull them to sleep, the words making no sense to the boys' ears as they didn't understand that language.
Layla turns sheepish as she puts her hands behind her back and looks to the ground, suddenly interested in her boots. She kicks a stone gently and it rolled over to Ford's foot. Then she opens her mouth, a wonderful sound escaping.
"A star that shines as clear as day, made me wish I can go out and play, but remember the night holds a strange magic air, and this warning to you is to be fair." Layla began to sing, her voice taking on the movement of the melody. Her voice sounded pure, as if she was a soloist in a choir. She continues.
"In the shadows there are people who are not what they seem, they'll want to take you down the deathly black water stream, don't take their hand within yours, or forever you'll be put behind the deathly doors.
"A star that shines as clear as day, oh how it made me wish to go out and play, so I took the hand of a shadow that called and beckoned me, and now I feel my soul become free.
"However I could not return in the morn, the sun bright as the star as my family mourn, now I become the shadow that uses the star as bright as day, would you like to take my hand and come play?
"A star that shines as bright as day, it made me go out and play, now do you wish to take that risk of the star, and take my hand to go far?
"I promise that I will bring you back home in the morn, that way no one will cry over you and mourn. But am I what I seem, or will I too take you down the deathly black water stream?
"You can trust me as I am your shadow friend, I promise to let you have fun to no end, I promise I won't take you that far, just to the star that is bright as day so we can pay our devoir*.
"A star that shines as bright as day, how I wish I did not go out to play, for the devil shadow had grasped my hand, the devil shadow pulled my soul and it was at his command.
"So heed my warning young soul, please heed it with thole*, and do not shake the devil shadow's hand, or forever your young soul shall be damned.
"A star that shined as bright as day, now dim with the shadows I have helped taken with the devil shadow's command that are a dark grey, remember how the night holds a strange magic air, and how even something as bright as a star can take you to the devil shadow's lair."
Layla concludes her song, her voice wavering slightly towards the end. During her singing her eyes had closed and she had swayed with the words, her cheeks were a rosy pink from being nervous. As she sung her voice had sent electrical chills down Ford's spine, her voice had been lovely but the message of the song was pretty clear.
Be careful on who you trust.
"You have a very lovely singing voice," Ford comments, his face blushed from hearing such a lovely sound.
"Ah… no I don't," Layla bashfully said, giving him a slight push on his shoulder.
"How is that song a lullaby though?" Ford then asks, thinking it was odd to sing to a child about dying in your sleep.
Layla gives a small shrug as she whispers, "I don't think it's a real song, I think my mom made it up as sort of a warning. It has a Peter Pan feeling to the song… but at the same time, it's like someone was trying to show you something that was amazing, just to be a puppet for their own game." She then gives Ford a sad, small smile. "I think it's really sad though… I think it's also about my mom a bit, trusting my father but he kind of ended up being like a devil. My father didn't really like it when I sang the song, so I just hummed it a lot."
Ford puts a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, it's a song your mom sang to you, so it must be important. So…" he then blushes again. "If you want to sing again, anytime, sing whatever song comes to mind."
"I don't really know many songs past 1966…" Layla murmurs, a little bitter sounding.
"Well, I know a few from the seventies that you might enjoy," Ford tells her, thinking of a few right away. "I'm not as good as a singer as you, but I'm sure you'd enjoy it."
They began walking once again, soon finding the alleyway they had left Rick in. However, upon returning he was nowhere to be seen. Ford called for him, but there was no response at all. Finally, they come across one of Ford's wanted posters, along with Layla's, and written in a black in someone had written a message. The two assumed it was Rick since some of the hand writing was very shaky, and he was drunk when they had left him.
"'Sci-Fi and Layla, you two were taking too long, probably making out in some corner somewhere, blech.'" Layla began to read, her face twisting up with annoyance. She then continues, "'I've gone to look for parts for my portal gun, I'll probably catch you guys later, and if not, bye bitches! This is Dimension 52, a more modern dimension, if you guys go to shady part of town you can probably hit a place to sleep that's better than a warehouse floor without money. Rick.'"
"So, he just ditched us!?" Ford yells, him clearly angry. "What a fricken asshole!"
"Honestly, I am not surprised in the slightest," Layla comments nonchalantly. "It was only a matter of time anyway." She then begins to walk back toward the way they had come from, her head held up high.
It was the first time that Ford had truly noticed how long her hair was. It was to her waist, maybe a little more to her hips. Her hair was black as night, her hair layered a certain way that almost resembled a raven's feathers. Despite being out in the multiverse with barely access to anything to wash up, her hair still looked smooth and inviting.
"Stanford," Layla's voice interrupts him. The brunette man shook his head violently and gives her a blank stare. By the look on her face it seemed that she had been trying to get his attention for quite some time. "Are you coming or not?" she then asks him, her lips quivering to a small smile, clearly amused by his blank stare.
"Um, yes!" Ford calls out excitedly, maybe too excitedly. "Let's get a move on then, shall we?"
A/N: Sorry this took a bit, I got a little stuck on the song! I had too look up rhymes and their definitions and ugh... I'm happy how the song turned out, and I am learning to play piano so maybe I can make a melody for it or something.
The song/poem is basically a similar thing about the original story of Peter Pan on how he would take children's souls to Neverland to never grow up because they had passed in their sleep, except this is basically a warning about Bill/Magum on how they can tell you sweet things and show amazing things but will use you to get what they want for their plans.
The "Not what they seem" line is mainly from the episode "Not What He Seems" about Stan.
*Devoir means to pay your respects.
*Thole means to endure something without complaint, or tolerate.
- POSSIBLE SPOILER DOWN BELOW -
Fans have speculated or headcanoned that the Pines family is Jewish as there is heavy evidence in the show. Alex Hirsch has confirmed on his twitter and in Journal 3 that Stan (along with Ford) was raised Jewish, but Stan had become an atheist (maybe Ford too since he's a science heavy man).
- POSSIBLE SPOILER END -
The name "Annabeth" is a reference to the Percy Jackson series.
Thanks for reading as always!
~Skye Hendersen~
