Chapter 1) Reunited
A/N: We were robbed of more Vee-centric stuff. So I decided to write some of my own. Enjoy!
DING!
I know I shouldn't eat microwave meals so many nights in a row, but I just don't have the energy to make anything else any more.
The overly salted instant pasta isn't exactly delicious, but I'm not really eating it because I like it. I'm just eating because I need to eat something, and I don't really care what that something is.
The chair opposite mine is empty. So is the chair next to me, and the other one, and all the rest. The only sound in the whole house is the sound of my fork against the side of my bowl.
It's quiet. Silent. And it's been silent for over a week now.
I knew they weren't going to come back right away. It was silly of me to think that I would wake up the next morning and everyone would be waiting for me downstairs.
But that didn't stop me from getting my hopes up.
I tried to not let it get me down, the loneliness and the silence. I did my best to keep on smiling when I went out to run errands, when I called Camilla's work to pass on her messages, when I explained to the school that Luz was sick and wouldn't be coming in for a few days…
But then one day became two, and then three, then four, and it got harder and harder to get through each day.
Why are they still not back? Did something happen? Are they safe? Are they trapped? Is there even any way for them to come home at all without a portal?
Are they even still alive?
I hate it so much whenever that thought crosses my mind.
I can't think like that. I won't think like that. They'll come back. They promised they would.
…
I know. I know I should have gone with them. But I was so scared of going back. Of seeing it all again. The thought of having to go back to that place, where I was kept, where I was caged…
So I stayed. And I let them all go without me.
And I waited and waited and I'm still waiting but they haven't come home and I don't know what's happened to them and I feel terrible because I could have gone with them I should have gone with them but I'm a coward and I'm selfish and they could be hurt or worse and I can't do anything about it-
My head is in my hands, and I'm taking deep, slow breaths like Camilla taught me to do.
I need to stop thinking about it all, or I'm gonna go crazy.
My pasta sits uneaten in my bowl. All I did was push it around with the fork. It's gone cold by now anyway, and I'm really not feeling hungry anymore.
My tail becomes a pair of legs as I shift into my human form. I can't exactly take out the trash in my normal form, after all.
Then again, what even is my normal form anymore? I've spent so much time as a human that sometimes it feels more normal to have legs than to not have them. I only really revert back to a basilisk when I need to rest and save my magic a little.
It's chilly outside. The dropping temperature makes me feel even more tired and slow, the clothes I shapeshift over myself only doing so much to keep me warm. I guess I need to start wearing an actual jacket soon.
The lid of the trashcan clangs back into place, and I walk back towards the front door. I think I'm just gonna go to bed early. Better to just sleep another long night away than sit alone in the empty house and start thinking about how much I miss them all over again.
Shoot… I can feel my eyes starting to sting again. I'm getting so sick and tired of crying…
"Vee?"
I stop, one foot over the entrance, as I hear my name called from behind me.
I turn around, and as much as I hope to see them standing there, I brace myself. Because if it turns out I just imagined it again, I won't be able to stop the tears from coming, and I'll just fall down crying right there on the porch.
I blink a few times to get rid of the blurriness… and I see them.
I see them.
They looked exhausted, and dirty, and Luz has a few cuts on her arms and Camilla's hair is a mess… but they're there. Standing on the driveway.
"Hey Vee," Luz says again, smiling at me. "We're back. Sorry we took so long."
Camilla's mouth is open, and she's probably saying something to me as well. But I'm not listening. I'm running, sprinting as fast as I can down the driveway until I'm close enough to throw myself at her, to wrap my arms around her and hold on to her as tightly as I can, because she's here, they're both here.
They came back.
"I missed you so much," is all I manage to say before I'm sobbing, my face buried in Camilla's shirt.
Her arms wrap around me and pull me in even closer, and I'm crying even harder now as I remember just how nice Camilla's hugs are. She gives the best hugs, no contest.
Something collides with my back, and I feel Luz joining the hug. I'm caught between them both, and the cold of the night is gone, replaced with a warmth that feels wonderful.
I feel a hand running through my hair, and I hear Camilla's voice gently shushing me.
"We're back, Vee. We're home."
"We missed you too," Luz says into my shoulder, and it sounds like she's crying as well.
She also sounds like she's about five seconds away from falling over and passing out, so as much as I don't really want to, I pull away from Camilla and end the hug.
"Let's go inside," I manage to croak out as I lead them both into the house.
"By the way Vee," Luz says, her smile growing wider. "I've got someone who wants to say hi!"
She takes off her hat, and a tiny little head pokes up from her messy hair, flicking her tiny little ears and tiny little tongue as she wriggles around and floats up and around Luz's head.
"Vee the basilisk, meet Stringbean the snakeshifter!"
The little purple snake-cat Palisman floats towards me and nudges against my cheek.
"Oh Luz, she's adorable!" I raise my hands so I can hold her properly, and she coils up in my palms and looks up at me with her wide, green-purple eyes.
Then I realise exactly what Luz said.
"Wait, did you say 'snakeshifter'?"
The little Palisman uncoils and floats up and out of my hands. I watch as she twirls, glows, and changes.
She's a snake, then she's a cat, then she's a butterfly, then a fish, then…
… she falls, and I'm only just able to catch her. She lands back in my hands, a snake-cat once again.
I'm panicking.
"What's wrong? Is she OK!? What happened!?"
Luz gently takes her from my hands and places her back on top of her own head. Stringbean coils up and hides in Luz's hair again, as if it were her nest.
"She's tired," Luz sighs. "We all are."
"Come on girls," Camilla says. "Let's go sit down."
I immediately offer to make some tea, and I'm in the kitchen in seconds, filling the kettle and pulling out three mugs. All the while, I'm scrubbing away at my eyes with my sleeves and smiling to myself, because they're home again.
Soon, all three of us are in the living room seated on the couch. Luz is in the middle, Camilla and I on either side of her, three mugs of tea with probably more sugar than was healthy in each of them held in our hands.
No-one says anything for a while. I think all three of us are unsure where to begin.
So I decide to start.
"What happened?" I ask. "Did everything…"
I trail off almost as soon as I start, and I realise that I don't even know what questions I wanna ask first. I have so many. Where is everyone else? What happened to Belos? How did you get back without a portal?
What took so long?
No, I shouldn't ask that. That's not fair.
Luz and Camilla exchange a look. Camilla nods, and Luz turns to look back at me. She still looks moments away from falling asleep, but her eyes are shining, shining in a way that they haven't done in months, in all the time I've known her.
"Well," she begins, drawing out the word. "I guess I should start with the night we went through the portal…"
I sit and listen as Luz fills me in on everything that happened. My mind and my thoughts and my emotions are a mess as I hear her describe it all in detail.
Arriving in the Boiling Isles to find it almost empty. Seeing what the Collector had done to everything and everyone. Getting separated and fighting Kikimora (hearing her name again made me tense up a little. She'd been someone who visited the cages…). Stringbean hatching from her egg. Getting trapped in the Collector's illusions and breaking free. Talking to the Collector and learning that they were just a lonely little kid. The Titan coming alive, possessed by Belos.
Luz getting hit, and fading away.
She stops talking for a moment when she gets to that part, and I watch as Camilla grabs her hand and holds it tight. Luz's eyes look distant for a few seconds too long, but then she snaps back and resumes her story.
Meeting the Titan, the actual Titan, and being given his powers. Fighting Belos and ripping him out of the heart of the isles. The power leaving, and the glyphs not working any more. Everyone waking up and being returned to normal. The Collector and King working together to make a new portal door to allow them to come back to the human realm…
"That's why it took so long for us to get back," Luz explains. "King and the Collector took a few tries to get it right. Had to make sure it took us to the right world, after all."
"Their first attempt wound up leading to a swamp full of giant bugs," Camilla adds with a shudder. "That mantis will haunt my dreams for a while."
I'd been silent the whole time Luz was talking, processing everything she was saying.
It was a lot to take in.
They'd been through so much. So much fighting. So much hurt.
Luz had even…
"I'm sorry."
It slips out before I can stop myself.
"For what?" Luz asks.
"I should have gone with you. I should have helped. I let you all face something horrible while I just… waited here."
I'm not looking at either of them anymore. I can't. I don't want to see how disappointed they must look.
A hand rests on top of one of mine. Something leans into my side. I feel long curly hair brush against my shoulder.
"Don't say that, Vee," Luz whispers. "You don't have anything to apologise for."
I can feel my tears welling up again. "But I…"
"No buts," says Camilla. She's kneeling in front of me, and she takes my face in her hands and lifts my head to look at hers.
"You weren't ready to go back there, and that's OK. You have nothing to say sorry about."
I'm doing my best to hold my tears in. But I'm not doing a very good job.
"You held down the fort for us," Camilla continues, and she's smiling at me again. "And you were safe. That's what matters to me, to us. That you were safe."
I can't… I can't hold it in anymore. I hiccup, then I sob, and then it all comes pouring out.
"I was so scared you'd never come back!"
I collapse. I'm crying, wailing, my fists balling up in my hair as I fall apart, as I say out loud the thought I had been trying so hard to ignore.
I was alone for so long. Alone and hurt and scared all my life, for as long as I can remember.
But then I wasn't alone anymore. People weren't hurting me anymore. Camilla, then Luz as well and all of her friends too, accepted me and made me feel safe, less afraid…
And then they were gone, and I was too much of a coward to follow them. And they could have died and I would never have known, I'd just be all alone all over again.
I thought going back there was what scared me the most. But I know better now. What scares me the most, what really scares me more than anything else, is the thought of being alone again.
I feel arms wrap around me as I'm sandwiched between Camilla and Luz in another tight hug.
My emotions are all over the place. I'm sad that they both got hurt, and I'm angry at the monster who hurt them, and I'm guilty for not being there despite Camilla and Luz both saying I have no reason to feel that way. I'm scared that they'll leave again, scared that they'll be hurt again, scared that this is all a dream and I'll wake up and I'll still be alone…
But… I'm also relieved that they're safe. Happy that they came back. And on top of it all…
On top of it all…
I love them both so much.
And I never want to lose them.
Hello to you all, and hello again to anyone who has read any of my other fics before this one. I'm Not Scot.
So in between writing 'RWBY Re:Mixed', I decided to have another go at writing some Owl House stuff (my first Owl House fic was a bit different to say the least). I like Vee, and I wish we had more of her in the series proper.
So, this is going to be something of a Vee-centric collection of short stories that may or may not become a regular thing. I have some ideas for at least two more chapters of this, but anything beyond that will depend on whether I can settle on something I like the sound of.
Please by all means share your thoughts with me, and leave a review if you feel so inclined. But for the time being, I shall take my leave.
Until next time,
Not Scot.
P.S: Guardians of the Galaxy 3 made me cry so much! You know exactly why if you've seen it to.