Each spine a doorway
AN: This initially started out as a drabble expansion from the collection - it turned into it's own thing before too long in addition to being suuuuper overdue, better late than never I suppose! Reference to The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in the third one because it's one of my favorite books and I couldn't resist.
i. Dorothee
Her fingers are still trembling when she closes the book. A small part of her fears that they may never stop, but another part – a far larger part – feels as though that would be a fair price to pay.
She had always enjoyed reading, of course. But not like this. Never like this.
It had initially been curiosity, at first. Dorothee's ears had always perked up whenever her mother's friends had come over to discuss what they were reading that particular week, and she couldn't the surge of intrigue that ran through her when the normally harmonious group found themselves at an unusual impasse.
This is taboo, indecent, not fit for public consumption, proclaimed one side (perhaps just a little too loudly, but that was neither here nor there).
This is bold, transgressive, boundary defying, declared the other, digging their heels into the sand and holding their heads high.
While the debate hadn't developed into anything truly heated – that bunch had known each other far too long for that – Dorothee nevertheless herself unable to pull her gaze away from the unassuming cover, deciding for herself right then and there that she'd sneak it away and come to her own conclusions, everyone else be damned.
She'd found out for herself that the first bite of forbidden fruit was always the most delicious.
Before long she was utterly absorbed, lost in a world that she hadn't known existed before her eavesdropping. Dorothee had always been a romantic at heart, besotted by tales of those seeking their happily ever after and this -
This was nothing like those.
This was everything like those.
The leads were terribly unsympathetic on first glance, both exemplifying the worst traits of their respective worlds, and the sheer vitriol when they came together, the vicious, unforgiving wars fought via wordplay and subtext… surely these two would have been happier in the presence of anyone else in the world besides their reluctant counterpart.
Yet somehow they couldn't pull away, and neither could she. Not from the bitter asides, the roiling heat, the way her breath caught when jagged edges finally caught in just the right way and fit against all possible odds.
It wasn't a perfect tale, by any means. There were loose ends strewn about, no happily ever to be found at journey's end. Dorothee could not have cared less. A love story was a love story was a love story, and this particular one ignited her blood like none other had before.
She can't sleep. How can she possibly be expected to sleep?
Her feet carry her to the desk in the corner of her room instead and her (still trembling) fingertips lightly grasp a pen as she sits down, her thumb clicking the tip in and out.
In, out. In, out.
There's an inferno blazing in her ribcage and she burns with every idea that's birthed in the flame. Again, it's a fair price to pay.
ii. Emma
Her small fingers eagerly started to turn the page before a familiar voice stopped her in her tracks. Beside her, Celine turned an annoyed eye toward the intruder – after all, just because Emma was still awake that didn't mean she was!
"Hmm. And here I thought you were supposed to be sleeping," Vita greeted, her arms crossed and her eyebrow raised.
Emma blushed, knowing full well that she'd been caught red-handed. "I was going to! I just… wanted to get a little farther, that's all."
"Uh huh." Gingerly closing the door behind her, Vita strode toward Emma and sat down on the bed, reaching out to pet Celine and snickering as the familiar accepted the unspoken apology with a content purr. "Define a little further, won't you?"
"… a few more pages?"
"I'm not sure if that's a question or a statement. Hardly specific either way," she said, flashing Emma a small grin as she tugged the novel from her hands, flipping to where she'd last been. "Oh, I remember reading this one."
"You do?" Emma eagerly asked, her eyes liquid in the room's dim light.
"Of course. Here, if this helps you get to sleep faster; right after this part, the lovably roguish brigands and their newfound comrades end up – "
"H-Hey!" she yelped, pulling the book away from a visibly amused Vita and wrapping her arms around it protectively, cheeks puffing into a pout. "Don't spoil it."
"I won't, I won't. Just kidding," Vita assured her, unable to hide her grin when Emma pouted harder. "Still, you must be enjoying it so far if it's keeping you awake."
It was like flipping a switch; the change was instant.
"Uh huh!" and she watched as Emma shuffle back closer, breathless with excitement. "How long ago did you read this, Vita? It must have been ages!"
She made a face at that, reaching out to gently flick her forehead in mock disapproval. "First off, I'd thank you to phrase that differently. I may be older than you, but I'm not Grandmother. Second," she continued, lips turning upward when Emma giggled and swatted at her hand, "probably a year or two ago? Not very long, in the grand scheme of things."
"Oh! So you remember everything that happened, then?" and Goddess, her little sister could not have been less transparent had she tried.
"I do, and I'd be glad to talk about it. Tomorrow," Vita stressed, pointedly emphasizing each syllable. Emma, however, was not to be denied.
"Just the first couple of chapters?"
"Let me think about that. No."
"The first two chapters?"
"Oh, look at that – it's the second verse. Same as the first, coincidentally enough."
"… the first chapter?"
Persistent, this one.
"Would you settle for the table of contents?" she teased, smirking again as she reached for the book. "Fine, we'll talk about the first chapter and then we both go to bed, deal?"
The smile on Emma's face put the stars themselves to shame, and as she snuggled against her side and started talking… well, perhaps brewing an extra strong cup of tea in the morning wouldn't be the end of the world.
iii. Machias
When three gentle knocks on the door drew no answer, Carl sighed and stepped away, knowing all too well where his son probably was.
Elsa's room was wrapped in shadow, the faint moonlight shining through the window not nearly sufficient enough to chase away the dark. He saw Machias sitting in her bed, his knees drawn to his chest and his heart shattered all over again, splintering along fault lines that had never truly gone away.
"Machias?"
His head slowly raised, eyes still glistening with tears. His son hardly ever cried – he could count the occasions on one hand with fingers still left over – but now his shoulders were shaking with barely repressed sobs and Carl wished with all that he had that he could somehow make things better (because he was his father, and surely that was what fathers did?)
Except he knew that he couldn't, knew right down to his rattling bones.
He recognized the grief in his son's eyes all too well; it was the grief that threatened to consume you whole, a dark, cold pressure that filled your empty chest and tried to drown you from the inside out. It came from every sunny smile, every wondrous laugh, every happy memory; pain of the most insidious sort, borne from love that no longer had anywhere to go.
"Machias?" he repeated again, reaching out and gingerly resting a hand on his arm. "Are you – "
He bit his lip and shook his head, starting to sniffle almost immediately; every rige the boy that he tried so hard not to be. Carl had wanted to be grown up too, at his age. He hadn't known any better – Goddess, what child had? – and he'd have given anything to let Machias stay that innocent, if only for one more day.
One more day. If only.
Machias' gaze dropped then, and when Carl's own followed he saw a book lying open on the bed. Curious in spite of himself, he leaned in and could just barely make out a boy and a dog (no, fox), sitting in a field and –
Ah.
He didn't quite smile (not yet, the wounds were too fresh) but when he took it in his hands and reverently gazed at the worn pages he felt the faintest bit of warmth start to seep in, like light slowly spreading from underneath a darkened door. He remembered reading this to Elsa with his wife, remembered feeling utterly content when he watched Elsa did the same to Machias.
Remembered that one could only mourn so deeply if they had loved and been loved in equal measure.
Carl carefully angled the book so he could see the faded ink as best he could, pretending not to notice how Machias hesitantly shuffled closer. If nothing else, he could at least do this much.
"To you," he began, his words clear and strong despite the heavy lump in his throat, "I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world…"
"Each spine had been an open doorway whispering, Come in, come in. Here is a land you've never seen before. Here is a place to hide when you're frightened, to play when you're bored, to rest when the world seems unkind."
- Leigh Bardugo
OMAKE
"You came!" Dorothee exclaimed, leaping up from her booth and waving in delight.
"Of course," Emma said with a smile, stepping forward to draw her friend into a warm embrace. "We'd always meant to attend to one of your book launches! Oh, I feel bad that it ended up taking so long..."
Dorothee shook her head, still beaming when she stepped back. "Please don't! I know how busy Class VII still is - some things never change." Gesturing toward behind Emma, she added "I hope you'll take some time during your next assignment to let me know what you think?"
"If you insist," Machias replied, the corners of his mouth turning up as he clasped her outstretched hand. "Congratulations on publishing your latest installment, Dorothee. This takes it up to six books, now?"
"Six," Dorothee confirmed with a happy nod, her cheeks turning pink. "I still have a ways to go before the end is in sight but I should be able to - oh, I think I see Musse and Ash!"
"That's right, they mentioned they were coming. I think Tatiana's on the way too," Emma noted, giggling a little at the unimpressed expression on Ash's face.
"Wonderful! I'll go grab them, you two stay put!" And with that Dorothee dove into the crowd, eagerly making her way to the other Thors alumni as Machias and Emma looked on.
"I'm a little surprised Ash came, to be honest."
"And miss the chance to give me grief about the indecent misadventures that Dorothee's two leads - who are in no way based off myself and Jusis, of course - continue to get into? Perish the thought."
"Hehe. I keep telling you, I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Yes, I'm certain you don't. I don't suppose we'd have an argument for royalties?"
Her eyes twinkled as she patted his hand. "Resemblance and legal distinction aren't mutually exclusive, I'm afraid."
"Blast."