Last chapter! (sob, sob…) Well, I'll be adding an epilogue shortly, but his will be the end of my first fanfic! Enjoy!
Laney couldn't take it anymore, she ran to the mountain. Somewhere where no one could find her. And have to make her think so hard. This was who she was going to spend the rest of her life with after all!
Dirk wasn't sure what he was going to do, Laney was probably at the wedding already. Actually… the wedding should have been over by now. She probably already got proposed to. So much for doing something about it…
"No!" Dirk shouted. "You hear that world? Even if I can't marry her, I will see her again to tell her how much I love her. I don't care if she does love Cam!"
Weirdly enough, as soon as he said it, the sky darkened incredibly quickly. Dirk cursed himself for not bringing an umbrella, but he kept on.
He set down the mountain towards Bluebell, his steps faltered, and he stopped. What the heck was he doing? Was he mad? Marching into someone's proposal? He'd probably end up making a fool of himself, then he'd really have to leave town.
No, he had to do this. He started down the mountain again, hoping he wasn't too late.
Laney didn't know where she was going, she had never gone so far into the mountain before. She crossed a bridge and slide down a cliff a few times. She found herself in front of a handsome brick building that look like it came right out of the mountain.
Laney was cold and dirty and confused, and the rain just wouldn't stop coming down. She vaguely remembered Lillian telling her about some hermit that lived on the mountain somewhere, and she figured that this was her house.
She knocked lightly on the door, wondering if this was a good idea.
"Come in Laney." A voice said from within. Laney flinched at the unfamiliar voice, and was worried by the fact that the stranger knew her name. She entered, and her jaw dropped.
It was pink, pink everywhere. And a short girl, who looked very young, came towards her. Her long hair was pink, as were her clothes, which were much too big for her.
"My goodness Laney! You look as though you've fallen into a well! Ahaha!" Said the short woman.
"Wh-who are you?" Laney asked, shivering. Her wet hair was stuck to her face, and various parts of her were caked with mud.
"I am the remarkable Oracle, if you please! And you," She said, pointing her finger at Laney. "It seems that every time someone comes to my home in the rain, they are faced with a dilemma. So I must ask, what is your problem?" Said the Oracle, leading Laney to a table.
Laney frowned slightly when she saw that two steaming cups of tea were already prepared at the table. The Oracle gave her a blanket, and told her to sit.
"Well, uh, Ms. Oracle, it seems that I've fallen in love with two people. This isn't really the problem, the problem is that one of them has proposed to me, and I still haven't chosen who to marry. Who should I pick Oracle? I am in need of your sage advice." Laney told her.
Oracle stood up and paced the room, thinking hard. Her cute baby face all smooshed up with concentration. She then walked over to her bookshelf. She was so short that she had to stand on the tips of her toes to reach the book she was trying to get. Laney looked at the book cover, it said: Wise Things to Say-Romance Edition.
"Ugh! This book is so outdated!" She tossed it into the huge cook pot carelessly. Laney thought this "Oracle" character was a bit odd, but at least her home was warm and dry.
"Okay, I'll just tell you this: When you're trying to choose between two people you love, always choose the second one you fell in love with."
"Ah, why the second one?" Laney asked, pretty sure that the Oracle was crazy.
"Because silly girl! If you loved the first one enough, you wouldn't have fallen for the second one in the first place!"
That… made sense. But who had she fallen in love with first?
"I see that look on your face Laney, and I have the answer for you." She said with a small smile
She quickly gathered her long skirts and hopped up her cooking pot. She murmured something, like a chant, and swayed. Her hands moving over the bubbling liquid.
She took out two little jars and dipped then into the pot. They came out as a clear, viscous liquid. She brought the two vials over to Laney, and told her to kiss them.
"Um, why do I need to kiss them?"
"Just kiss the vials Laney, its part of the spell."
So Laney put her lips to the vials. The first one instantly turned from clear to red, and the other one turned purple. Laney gasped, they didn't just look different now, and they smelt different too.
The red one smelled like a wood fire and summer, and the purple one smelled like lilacs and hot chocolate. Both equally good things, yet very different in their nature.
"What am I suppose to do with them?"Laney asked incredulously.
"Well, I'm not really 100% on this, but if you mix them together and drink them, you'll immediately find your true love! Again, not really sure if it will work…"
Laney's face paled, but she took a big gulp of the two potions anyway. Surprisingly enough, they didn't taste bad, not good, but not bad either.
"I don't feel any different Oracle…" Laney said, worried.
"Er… It may take some time to work…Uh, maybe you should leave, look, the rain stopped! Bye bye now!"
Oracle then shoved Laney out the door and into the sunlight. It was extremely bright outside, and the smell of rain filled her nose.
So… the Oracle said she would find her true love once she drank those potions. But what was she suppose to do now?
"Ugh…" Laney groaned, holding the head. She suddenly didn't feel well…
Laney fainted under the shade of a cherry blossom tree.
Dirk found Laney as he was coming down the mountain. He almost ran past her, except he was running so fast that he came close to tripping over her.
"Laney! What the…? Oh! You're asleep!" Dirk said, quickly going to his knees and cradling her head in his hands. He didn't want to wake her, she was sleeping so soundly. So Dirk took off his jacket and bunched it up, then set it under Laney's head like it was a pillow.
Dirk sighed, and looked out at the mountain, it was beautiful.
"Why are you here Laney? You should be at the reception party, celebrating your engagement to Cam. Unless… Did you say no Laney? That wouldn't explain why you're here though…"
"Nggh…" Laney mumbled, and her eyes fluttered open. The first thing she saw was Dirk, looking up into the clear blue sky with a placid smile on his face. He looked as though he didn't have a care in the world. Laney suddenly realized that he was holding her hand. She squeezed Dirk's hand, and he looked down at her. A big grin instantly brightening his face.
"'Morning sunshine." He said. Laney smiled and stretched, then sat up. "Hey Dirk. Wait… why are we in the mountains…?" She said sleepily.
"Well, I don't know about you, but I was just going down the mountain to stop you from getting engaged to the Flower Man." He said casually, as if her were talking about the weather.
"Flower Man! I mean-Cam! I completely left him hanging at the town square, with everyone watching!" Laney cried, put her head on her knees.
Dirk put on a mischievous smirk, and said, "Annnnnd, how do you feel about that?"
Laney thought about it, and… she didn't feel anything. "Honestly Dirk, I feel bad about leaving Cam there. But… I don't regret it. I was just scared, it was so out of character of Cam."
"So… you didn't say yes?" Dirk said slowly, twirling some grass between his fingers.
"Well, yes, but I didn't say no either." There was silence between them.
"Was it really out of character for Cam to propose? I mean, we have no idea what he was thinking. He's the one who wanted to propose in public in the first place." Dirk asked, not looking at Laney.
"You're right Dirk. You know, sometimes I feel as though I'm not even the main character in the story. Like… like I'm just another side character, willing to be cast away at a moment's notice because I'm not important enough for the story."
Dirk didn't say anything. Laney looked over to him, he was staring out into the distance. He turned to look at her, look at her in the eye.
"It really depends on whose story you're telling Laney. If you're not living the life you want, you might as well be a side character. But, Laney, if you're going to be a main character anywhere, would you be the main character of my story?"
Laney's eyes watered. Dirk figured it out. She hadn't been living her life to the fullest; she'd been muddling through it, standing in the background like she was trying hard to seem unimportant. But she was through with that, now she had to answer Dirk.
There was no hesitation.
"Of course Dirk."
She started to cry, but stopped for a brief second to look up at Dirk, who had his arms wrapped around Laney's small figure.
"Don't look so surprised. I told you I would always hold you when you cried, I'm not backing out of my promise now."
Laney nuzzled against Dirk's chest, like she had on that cold winter night.
"Dirk, thank you. I'm so happy right now! I love you."
Dirk smiled, and kissed Laney's forehead.
"Well that's great! But I love you more..."
The couple sat on the green grass, watching the beauty of nature around them. They didn't talk, for there were no words to describe the euphoria they felt just being in each other's arms.
…
Church bells pealed merrily as the newlyweds exited the church arm in arm. Laney and Dirk laughed heartily all the while.
"Married. It feels like a dream." Laney said.
"A dream come true I hope." Dirk said, nudging her slightly. And they continued to laugh.
"Oh, Dirk, who are they?" Laney asked, spotting a couple of strangers in the mass of wedding goers.
Dirk's facial expression became blank. He squinted his eyes, but then they widened. Dirk yelled.
"Ivan!"
The strange man in the crowd came rushing up to Dirk, a girl trailing behind him.
The man ran at Dirk and gave him a huge hug.
"Laney, this is my brother Ivan, and his wife, Gretel." Dirk said, his eyes shining.
Laney stumbled backwards. This was the same Gretel Dirk had told her about? Oh, now she understood. He left because the love of his life married his brother. Laney didn't have siblings, so she didn't know the feeling. But she guessed that Dirk had been pretty crushed, enough to leave his home village.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Laney. My brother is a good man, I'm sure he'll treat you right. And if he doesn't, well, this village will probably beat him up for you." Ivan told her, with a smile to boot.
"We were all sad when Dirk left, but once we go back to the village, everyone will be so glad to see you!" Gretel squealed.
Dirk frowned. "Actually, Ivan, I'm not going back with you. I've decided that my home is here, in the two villages, with Laney." Dirk said, pulling Laney closer to him.
Ivan and Gretel both frowned. "Well, okay. But we have to leave now, it was good seeing you Dirk, have a nice life!" And the two left.
"Well, now that I've been hit over the head with that brick of information, I'm glad you chose to stay by me on the mountain."
Dirk held Laney's hand. "I wouldn't have it any other way." He whispered.
"Okay you love birds! Smile for the camera!" Lillian said, popping out of nowhere. Ash by her side, they were both grinning wildly.
Click, flash.
"So Laney, do you feel like the main character in your story now?" Dirk asked.
"No Dirk." Laney told him.
Dirk frowned. "Why not?"
"Because it's not my story anymore, it's ours."
All done! Again, epilogue coming. But the idea for this came to me as I was spelunking around the Ushi no Tane forums, and there were these two polls for people to choose their favorite bachelor and bachelorette. The story was originally supposed to be about the two least popular marriage candidates. So it turns out Dirk is the least liked, but I made Laney the main character too early… she got lots of votes and ended up being the most popular. So the thing turned into a Most PopularxLeast Popular. A.K.A. LaneyxDirk.