IMAGINE:
Author's Note:
Hello everyone! First of all, I'd like to thank anyone who is new to reading my hobby writing for giving my fanfics a shot! Every view pushes me to continue with these quirky little critters, and I appreciate any and all feedback given, even if it's just a simple "I like it" or comment about an event in the story. That being said, since this fanfic is active again, these older chapters deserve a fresh coat of paint! (As of 7/6/2024) It's a bit late for the tenth anniversary of the fic, but a little cleanup is still in order. If for some reason you'd like to view the first four chapters in their original form, they will remain archived on my DeviantArt account under the same username. Hope you enjoy!
- EMG
Prologue: Daydream
Warm, midsummer rays cast down upon a lonely cottage, their morning radiance shimmering like pond water against the panes of a nearby window. Marred by foliage, sunlight-speckled glass painted portraits of gold for the cottage inhabitants. Time-worn hinges gave way to a gentle roar as a leaf detached from its perch and deposited itself within, decorating a lone egg fresh from the nursery and its cozy, hay bed. Save for the window, the room itself was devoid of lighting. There was no color to the walls, nor decor to the room, yet the egg lie unbothered, even to its unwelcomed, leafy guest. Undisturbed, but not inactive, the egg began to glow, drowning out the light from the window as it shook and cracked with vigor.
Alerted by the sudden racket, a female servine entered the room, only to turn back, fleeing toward some unseen hallway and back again with a dampened cloth and an eevee by the tail. "See, Cobalt? I told you! Dig the static out of your ears and pay attention. The egg is hatching!" The servine demanded, whirling on the egg with attentive eyes as the pair stared on in wonder.
"Sorry, sorry!" The eevee yawned, favoring his tail as he shielded his eyes from the light. "Wait, when did it start? Did I miss anything?" He asked nervously. Freshly torn from sleep, he stared onward groggily as the egg continued its dance. "Autumn?" He begged, only to be met with laughter from his grass type companion. "What?"
"Never mind. The egg. It's hatching. Watch." They watched as the egg began to shake harder, glowing brighter until the room was filled completely with its light, temporarily blinding the two. Once cleared, a snivy lie in place of the former egg. The two looked between themselves and the newborn and smiled from cheek to cheek before approaching the small grass type. Eagerly, Autumn lifted him with her vines and held him in her arms, gently staring down at him. "We're parents." She simply whispered, too happy to say much else.
"Looks like you won out on species." Cobalt seemed to frown. "But I won on eye color at least! Uhh...sorta." He chuckled. "Maybe? Sky blue is still blue." He grinned, pride beaming from his cobalt-blue eyes as his wife sighed in disapproval. "What? Are we not?" He shook his head. "Right! Parents, sorry." He sighed "I didn't think I'd ever be a father. I'm not quite sure what to say."
"Anything is fine." The servine shook her head. "But maybe we should leave the competition out of it, hmm? How about a hello for instance? Welcome to the world?" She nudged the eevee with her tail. "Anything other than announcing the winner!" She giggled.
Cobalt looked almost downtrodden, yet his cheery demeanor returned with a satisfied smirk. "But how else am I supposed to tally the points?" He teased. "Jokes aside, I'm glad he's not an eevee. Two legs is much more manageable than four! Do you know how hard it is to keep up with your nephew at parties? The little scamp is an endless bucket of energy, and your sister insists the guys look after him!" He shook his head. "I'd have a gray coat before long if we had to deal with two of 'em." He added promptly before joining his mate in adoration of the newborn kit.
Autumn glanced down at the youthful snivy and smiled. "Oh, I don't think it'd be that hard." She dismissed his concerns with the flip of her tail. "Oh!" She hopped. "What should we name him?" She asked her husband as her child reached for her. Other than little actions like that, he didn't seem to do much else at that time. Not that surprising for a newborn.
"Name?" Cobalt stared out the window, absentminded thumps emanating from the floorboards as he tapped his hind paw in thought. "Well...I don't really know. It was hard enough for me to ask you out when we were teens. Coming up with a name for our child is permanent." He shook his head. "I can't imagine a thing right now." Even so, something about the word 'imagine' seemed to excite the little grass type as his petit, cream-colored snout lit up with a smile.
"Hmm...what's got you so happy little guy?" Cobalt asked his son, curiosity eating at the rims of his muzzle as it broke into a comical grin. "What? Do you want your name to be Imagine?" He cooed to his mate's dismay. "Is that it?"
"Honestly, Cobalt." She shook her head. "What kind of name would that be?" There was a noticeable glint in the snivy kit's eyes as he raised an arm once more. With childish laughter, a flash, similar to the shine of the kit's former egg, lit up the room in brilliant fashion. Despite their proximity to its source; however, Cobalt and Autumn remained unharmed as the room began to shift. The walls, barren from the recent move, flared to life, color taking hold of their form. Ice swept out from beneath Cobalt and Autumn's paws, spreading across the room in waves until it leveled out against the walls. Curiously, despite the the surface's slick texture, it was far from slippery. Before they could test it for themselves: however, the hay bed ballooned outwards, clattering to the ground anew as a full sized, non-makeshift bed. The two parents soon found themselves floating, strange royal attire blanketing their forms as they hovered above the ice-coated floor.
"Uhh, what just..." Chris began; however, a second beam of light put those thoughts to rest. Toward the back of the bed, off where the egg once lie, sat a familiar, golden leaf. More brilliant than ever before, the lost foliage erupted in size, becoming a vibrant, flowering headboard for the bed. Flowers of all kinds grew on the walls, filling in gaps around windows and wooden beams, each of which manifested from thin air as the room began to grow. Peculiarly, the ceiling was now furnished with an intricate, glass chandelier that irradiated the former lightless room. Despite the heat of summer, the floor refused to melt and, aided by its new furnishments, the room smelt of honeysuckle and lavender.
"Like I tried to say before." Cobalt huffed. "What just happened?" The eevee flailed about in the air, trying an failing to gain a foothold as he and Autumn gently lowered to the ground below. Unfortunately, he would be left without an answer as his mate stared on in disbelief. The two glanced down at their son who, in the absence of fear or shock, continued to smile and giggle. The two parents looked to each other curiously, and then back to the snivy.
"Did you do this little guy?" Autumn asked. The snivy didn't reply of course; however, his perfectly intact smile was all the confirmation they needed. "How...is this possible?" Autumn asked her husband, glancing about the room in amazement. "I'm no stranger to a zorua's illusions, and this isn't one of them. My brother used them all the time to play tricks on me when I was a kit, and they never felt real." She shook her head. "Any ideas, Cobalt?"
Cobalt sighed. "Why are you asking me? You don't know, how am I gonna know?" He chuckled. "Let's just go with it. Clearly the kid did something cool! This is like something out of a dream, or... I don't know. Nothing I could cobble together with springs or gears could do this. It's gotta be some kind of magic!"
"Dream..." Autumn nodded to herself, pacing about the ice-coated floor in silence. "Yeah, that could work." A brilliant grin adorned her snout. "Sky for the color of his eyes..." She brushed a leafy hand up against the kit's forehead. "And a nickname. Dream, for whatever this is." She giggled. "We both get a choice after all. How about it?" She asked Cobalt. "Those are your words, are they not?"
"Dream..." The eevee grinned in kind. "That's my kinda name!" His grin twisted into a smirk. "Hey. How's about we bet over which one he chooses, hmm?" The father teased, eliciting a sigh from his servine companion.
"In your dreams." Autumn snickered. "I think I'd win anyway."