New Story time! I happen to be an avid fan of fantasy and there's just not enough fantasy in the world of Stephanie Plum. So, add some, I will!
Summary: Stephanie Plum had always carried a hidden secret inside of her, since she was little. A secret she's forgotten about, until a traumatizing event awakens what she's forgotten. Now, with knowledge of the secret, Stephanie now faces otherworldly dangers and mysterious allies, who will do anything to either protect or take the secret Stephanie houses inside of her.
Very AU, OOC, OCs. Diverges from the canon because damn it, I want it my way! Very Unbetaed, I have dysphagia so forgive me.
Disclaimer: The characters, save for a few are not mine, not making any money, so buzz off lawyers! I should start publishing my own works though...
Chapter 1 warning: Attempted Suicide! You've been warned!
Can You Keep A Secret?
Chapter 1
Prologue: Angel of the Blue Roses
"Hello there," Stephanie Plum looked around, with rounded eyes as she took in her surroundings, "My, what are you doing here, little one?"
Stephanie found herself in a field of dark blue roses that smelled almost like candy. The field seemed to go on forever, and endless field of beautiful flowers, the sky was dark almost like night but Stephanie could see clearly and sitting close to her, in the field of roses was a woman. Stephanie tilted her head as the woman spoke her.
She was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. She wasn't tall like many other people were but she had a lovely face that was the color of a rich brown color, long black hair that fell in tight curls and swam around her sitting form and eyes of a rich, deep amber that were sparkling with curiosity, She was dressed in an almost white, light-blue dress that maybe a princess would wear, in Stephanie's mind, it pooled around her frame like a giant full moon in many layers of different blues. It was off the shoulders but her dress sleeves were long and tapered off in points well past her fingertips. She had a golden tiara on nestled in her curls, with a strange gem in the middle of it and when she lifted her hands up and her sleeves fell back, Stephanie found that the woman had thin, dainty rings on each finger, each ring covered in dainty stones that sparkled in the light.
"What are you doing here, little one?" The woman asked again, her voice was sweet and smooth like honey, not like her mother's tone, when she was angry, "It has been a long time since someone has come to my field of roses."
"I don't know," Stephanie mumbled, shrugging her shoulders, wincing as she moved her cast covered arms, "I got yelled at by my mom, after we got back from the hospital and she sent me to bed with no supper and now I'm here."
The woman's face soften as Stephanie grabbed at her stomach, as it made noises of protest at that moment. She was very hungry and her mother made her favorite spaghetti that night, but because she had tried to jump off the shed to try to fly, she broke her arm and her mother had been livid and sent her up to her room, with no food. What would the neighbors think? They would think that Helen Plum was raising a loon, maybe a night of no food would help Stephanie think straight!
Stephanie didn't think it would, to be honest.
"Hmm, we cannot have a child go hungry," the woman waved her hand and a blanket of blue appeared on her dress, with a picnic basket filled to the brim with food, "Come, eat with me, and you can explain to me why a young child has a broken arm."
Stephanie eagerly made her way to the blanket and feasted on dainty sandwiches and finger foods with the woman, as she told said woman about how she tried to fly off the roof of the shed because she wanted to be like a bird and go into the sky.
"You know, if you were meant to fly, you would be born with wings, you know," The woman said, tapping Stephanie's nose and wiping jam off the side of her face, "As it may be, you are lucky that you've only a broken arm and not a broken leg. Still with holding food as punishment seems too much, in my books, more so for such a young child as you."
"Why are you here? I've never seen you before!" Stephanie asked as the woman blinked and looked down at the child, "This is such a pretty place, though."
The woman watched Stephanie drink from the bottle of juice she gave her and then asked in a soft voice, "Can you promise to keep a secret?"
"Mhmm, we can pinky promise!" Stephanie said, holding out her pinky finger, "You gotta lock your pinky finger with mine!"
The woman held her pinky finger, which was adorned with a small ring and laced her finger with Stephanie before saying, "I'm in hiding, little one, from something that is very dangerous, no one can know about me, I'm constantly in danger, so I must hide."
"Really, can many people see you, even if you're hiding?" Stephanie asked the woman, who shook her head sadly, "Who else can see you?"
"No one, only you, little one," The woman said, with a sad smile, "It seems that you have been chosen to be my friend, I am vey glad, I have been very lonely, the flowers are beautiful but they do not speak to me."
Stephanie was happy and proud of that fact. She was always second best to her sister and to have a special friend that only she could talk to, only she could see because she had been chosen to do so…Stephanie never had anything special like this! She would be the bestest friend ever!
"I'll be your super best friend for forever," Stephanie shivered with excitement and leaned forward, "You don't have to be lonely anymore!"
The woman smiled softly and nodded her head, "Thank you, little one, I am happy to not be lonely now, now finish your meal, and let me see what I can do about that broken arm of yours, my sweet child."
Stephanie finished her meal and held her broken arm out. The woman laid her left hand on the white cast and then, Stephanie, with wide eyes watched as golden light seemed to pour from the woman's ring covered fingers and covers Stephanie's arm, basking it with warmth and she felt it seep deep into her broken bone making her feel nice and warm. When the glow faded away, the woman hummed and with her finger ran a line down the middle of her cast causing it to cut in half to reveal a newly healed bone. Stephanie looked down at it with bright eyes and ran her small fingers over her arm.
"Y-you really did heal it, wow!" Stephanie smiled to the woman and hugged her, "Thank you!"
The woman returned the hug and said, "You are welcome, know that when you sleep, you can always come to me."
When Stephanie woke, she woke with a fully belly and a healed arm. She ran downstairs and when she showed her mother her healed arm, Helen had been stunned but wasn't complaining too much. She still punished Stephanie for causing a scene in the 'Burg but Stephanie didn't care, she had a friend she could go to be with.
Stephanie went to the woman in her dreams every night, talking with her, eating meals with her, playing games and being led around the endless field of blue roses. As she kept in touch with the woman, new things began to show in the field, like a small tea table, where they could have their snacks and Stephanie could receive help with homework. Often times a bed would appear and Stephanie would sleep in it, when she was too tired to speak to the woman or when she was sick. Even a small library appeared and Stephanie would sit beside the woman, listening to her tell stories or they would read books together, in silence.
Stephanie was beginning to see this woman as a mother figure, she was a better mother to Stephanie than Helen and as she grew, the bond between the woman and her grew deeper and her ties to her mother weakened. She found herself longing to be with the woman all the time and when she told the woman this, once, the woman had given a long look and asked that she not say anything like that again.
However, when Stephanie was 16 and was working at the Tasty Pasty, Joe Morelli came to her, one night, while she was closing up, herded her to a corner of the shop and….it hurt, she had a crush on him but she didn't want to do that with him. She kept that night only to herself and to the woman in her dreams, who apologized to her and whispered she wish she could make it right for Stephanie but she was powerless and could only console the crying girl, holding her tightly as Stephanie clung to her, weeping and wishing deeply to be with the woman for the rest of her life.
When Jow wrote about what he did on the bathroom stall at the high school, it spread across the school and Helen Plum got wind of it and berated Stephanie, calling her names like a slut, a whore, willing to spread her legs to any boy that gave her the time of day. Stephanie had denied it and Helen had slapped her asking her why she couldn't be like Valarie, and why she had to be an incompetent slut. Helen had grounded her and told her if she did anything else like that she would send the girl to a reformatory school.
Stephanie had snapped and screamed that she wished she had a different mother, one who believed their daughter when she said she hadn't wanted what Joe done to her and Helen had coldly said she wished she had a daughter who wasn't a lying slut. That had caused something in Stephanie to snap and she had gotten quiet and gone to her room, a plan forming in her head. Thought the woman had told her not to wish to be with her, she couldn't take it anymore, she wanted to be with the woman and she didn't care how.
"Stephanie, you seem a little pale," the woman said softly, as Stephanie slowly trudged over to the woman and sat beside her on the chaise, leaning against her and smiling sleepily, "Are you okay?"
"Helen and I had a fight, she found out about what Joe did to me, he wrote about it on the wall," Stephanie said turning her head to the woman, who let out a noise and pulled Stephanie close to her, "She slut shamed me, called me names, and I told her I wished I had another mother and she told me she wished she didn't have a whore of a daughter."
Stephanie clung to the woman and turned to look at her, with glazed eyes, saying, "I know, you tell me often, not to wish to be with you, but I can't take it, I want to be with you for the rest of my life, I want to stay with you, in this place, this piece of heaven."
The woman looked down in Stephanie's hand and found her holding something in it. The woman opened Stephanie's fist and paled, seeing a bottle of sleeping pills, the bottle empty, "Stephanie, my sweet child, what did you do?!"
"I want to be with you, for the rest of my life, so, I'm going to sleep forever, I took all 50 pills, that way we-can-" Stephanie slurred and her eyes rolled up in the back of her head and the woman cried out, grabbing at Stephanie as the girl fell unconscious, dying before her.
"No!" The woman whimpered, tears in her eyes as she tried to wake Stephanie but failed, "No-no-no…not again!"
There was but only one thing the woman could do, but that would mean fading away, into a place where Stephanie couldn't talk to her, and that would mean, Stephanie would never dream again, she would forget about the woman all together, their happy memories, their bond, gone. If it meant saving Stephanie, the woman would willingly choose self-imposed isolation than let the child die. If she died, they wouldn't be able to be together, that wasn't how they were tied together. Though their bond had only grown deeper it wasn't strong enough yet. Stephanie would die and the woman would be in limbo, until another chosen would come to her and she didn't know when or if that would happen.
"I'm sorry, Stephanie," The woman whispered, as she laid the girl on the chaise and stood, holding her hands out, "Know that I cherish what we had, but you must live on, live on for me."
The woman's body bathed itself in an aura of golden light that made the endless field shake and rumble, the ground falling away into nothing as the woman destroyed it, siphoning the power she used to keep it whole to Stephanie, so that she would live on.
"Stay strong, my sweet child," The woman whispered and with a snap of her fingers, she, the field of blue roses were gone and Stephanie woke up with a gasp and a pounding headache. Stephanie looked around her room, confused and then to the empty pill bottle on her bed and tossed it in the trash bin. She didn't know what happened but her head was killing her. She got up and got her day started, never knowing who close she got the killing herself.
Meanwhile, in the darkest corner of Stephanie's mind, the woman lay curled up on the in nothingness, her dull eyes full of tears as they closed and she smiled softly, whispering, "Not again," falling into a deep sleep, having used all the magic she had to save Stephanie. She wouldn't wake for long time, it was for the best, she couldn't lost another friend, even more so one like Stephanie, who had yet to begin living her life.
It was a sacrifice she was willing to make...
TBC..
So, how goes it? I don't know how epic of a tale this will be, but there will be fantasy, mystery, a sexy mysterious Cuban man, and Unmentionables getting revamped oh and evil, loads of it. ;D
