Stories
Drip.
Drip.
Drop.
Rain pattered lightly against a wide window in the Albarn's comfortably sized home. The fire sizzled and cracked. An old clock ticked and chimed on the hour. The littlest member of the Albarn family nestled into the spot on their old antique couch next to her papa. She rubbed her small, pale hands together and blew puffs of warm air into the gap to bring warmth to her chilly body. Her red headed father looked over, surprised at his daughter's sudden presence among him.
"And what are you doing up so early?" Spirit asked sleepily. He reached over and helped his struggling little one tie her fuzzy pink bathrobe. She had asked for yellow, but pink was just precious on her. He felt that it brought the true nature of his princess; kind and endearing. Spirit rolled up the sleeves on the too big robe. For one last good measure he smoothed down the fluffy material and patted Maka's ash blonde hair.
Maka batted her long eyelashes like she usually did when she wanted something of her parents. Her mouth curved to form a tiny smile. She looked somewhat embarrassed with her cheeks slightly flushed. "Can you tell me another story?"
The man grinned at the young child's simple request. He ran his fingers through his shaggy red hair and looked at the old clock out of the corner of his eyes. Something about the time whispered that he should decline, but when he looked back at his daughter's loving and pleading gaze, how could he say no?
"Okay, but then you have to go to sleep. Promise?"
"Promise." Maka answered back confidently with one nod of her head.
"Before I begin my tale of adventure, can you enlighten me with your favorite color, ma'am?" He always started his stories like this for one reason or another. It wasn't really of necessity or had to do with the tale itself. He figured that he liked hearing her giggles when he used that silly voice that he only used for narrative purposes.
Maka looked up thoughtfully before responding, "Blue."
"And why is that?" If he was being completely honest, now he was trying to search through his mind for a story Maka hadn't heard. He could've just retold one of her favorites, but that wouldn't do tonight. No, he needed something different. Something to hook her interest. . .
"I don't know really. It seems like a pretty color for a soul to be."
"Blue," Spirit mused, weighing the name on his tongue. It wasn't as cute as pink, but it would do, especially since she liked it. "Well, blue is a great color for a princess." He paused for a moment. "But tonight, this story will have no princesses in it. In fact, there won't even be a royalty system included. Can you handle that?" Maka nodded.
"Is it scary? If it is, well I like scary stories kind of." She hesitated at the last phrase. Maka was a bit too young for such unbefitting tales of sorrow and misfortune and gore and monsters and wait… he was basically describing his job. If she wanted a scary story Spirit could just tell her about the student whose mission had gone horribly awry and had lost his arm. He shuddered to even be thinking of that topic again. Right now he needed to put all of his wandering thoughts into this.
"Nope. Maybe I'll tell you one another night." Maka grinned at his answer.
"Alright."
"Once upon a time," Spirit began with the clichéd lines that are supposed to be in every child's tale. "There were three friends who were very close to each other. Even though they were spread miles apart from each other, they managed to maintain a stable connection between them."
Spirit stood up gently and walked closer to the fire. Maka followed his suit where they both plopped down onto two large pillows that he had sat down hours earlier.
"The first friend was a young girl with a loving and courageous soul. She dwelled within the clouds keeping watch over the meister and weapon pairs who took to the skies. The second friend lived in the valleys where he could watch and train with everyone else. This one was especially strong in nature and just a little bit wilder then the other two. The last friend was a bit mysterious. He remained hidden amongst darker places where the light couldn't reach him. This one fought with his mind and strong heart to track the evil that resided in the worlds including the one where his friends lived and,"
"This sounds just like a fairy tale!" Maka replied dreamily, allowing her head to rest on her petite hands. Her eyelids drooped ever so slightly. Her body shifted to the ticking of the clock. "The first friend sounds just like a princess, don't you think?"
"I guess you could call her the Mistress of the Skies if you wanted and,"
Thump.
Maka's head fell lightly against her father's knee. She was sound asleep. It was kind of weird seeing his daughter fall asleep during a story. She usually would put up a good fight until the end. A yawn escaped Spirit's lips. He was actually sleepier then he had originally thought. He guessed that he would let this one go and finish it tomorrow. His cool blue eyes surveyed the area. The fires flames made the shadows dance around the room to the sound of the rain and other background noise. He picked up his daughter carefully as to not wake her. He cradled his hand under her sleeping head. Her chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm.
"They all lived happily ever after, for tonight anyways. Good night, Maka." He sat her back in her own bed and tucked the sheets around her body to make sure the warmth was locked in. She couldn't go around catching a cold right? Spirit took one last look at his beautiful daughter and snuck silently back to his own room where he planned to go back and buy her a blue bathrobe instead.
Author's Note: Hello everyone! It's been kind of a while. I'd just like to quickly add that I DO have plans on adding Spirit's weird into the fray and having Maka be less of the innocent little girl character. If you can tell, I've been working with a much younger (and friendlier) Maka and Spirit, so I hope that'll fix the awkward OOCness.
To those of you who left a suggestion let me just say that I love your ideas and will hopefully be doing them in the next couple of weeks. Seriously though. Those were fantastic ideas and I would like your brain please. (I kid about stealing your brain.)
Keep up the suggestions and lemme know what you think!
I bid you farewell until next time.