Once upon a time

by swalow

Warning! Contain spoilers from Freefall book 3 and in last chapter from Spiral book 5 . This is the story of Elliott's background and childhood. Characters is: Elliott, Molly, Eddie, Drake and Will a couple of made up ones. Rated T for language and light violence/mature themes. But if you can read the books without problems, you'll be able to read this too.

3. Chapter 3 – Dark eyes

Chapter 3: Dark Eyes

- A few months later –

She is so beautiful, Molly thought when she finally held her newborn daughter in her arms. She was beautiful. However, she was a bit different than the rest of the babies in the Colony. Her most notable features were her eyes. They were dark brown. Not black like her father's, but a deep, dark brown. Molly knew that when her daughter's hair grew in, it would be dark as well.

"Oh, she's so sweet!" Emily said, and Anna nodded in agreement. Molly sat with her two friends in her bedroom, showing her daughter to them.

"But…? Her eyes?" Anna mentioned hesitantly.

"I know. The guy had dark eyes. He was a Topsoiler," Molly explained to throw off suspicion.

"So, she's not a…?"

"No! Of course not!" Molly cut her off, sounding a bit angrier than she intended.

"Oh, I see," said Anna with a placating tone. "Well, she's very cute anyway."

"What will you name her?" asked Emily excitedly. "I think she looks like a Amelia. Or maybe Mirabella."

Oh, you've got it all wrong! She's not going to be girly and sweet. She's not going to be ornamental at all. She will be strong. A survivor. And she will be absolutely amazing, Molly thought.

But she didn't say anything out loud, just nodded and smiled instead. "Maybe", she said, "I haven't really decided yet." She was lying. Her daughter was going to be called Elliott. Molly had always liked that name. It was beautiful, just like her daughter. But she decided not to tell her friends yet. She had a strong suspicion that they wouldn't like it.

Once, Molly, Anna and Emily had been great friends. They did everything together. But now, everything had changed. They weren't like her at all. All they wanted was to find a man – a good-looking one – and look pretty, but they were just trying too hard. And Molly hated to admit it – because after all they were her friends – but they would never keep up with her looks. Every boy in the Colony wanted her. But she wanted none of them. Just Eddie. She would have loved to tell her friends all about him, but she knew that if she did, they would probably hate her.

"Oh, okay", said Emily. "But you should really think about those names, because I think they would be perfect!"

"I will," Molly lied again and smiled. Her daughter was going to be called Elliott. Nothing else. Molly had already decided. Elliott, it was just so right.