I didn’t think I’d have time to do anything this month, but I had an idea today and wrote it this afternoon, sorry it’s a bit last minute. I tried to make this kind of fit with all the prompts
Word count: 1380
AO3
A last gasp of cold wind slipped through the window as Even pulled it closed. He loved to study with it open and feel the breath of nature drift through his room while he worked, but as winter drew near the biting chill from outside began to make his fingers numb and his pale cheeks as cold as ice.
He turned, ready to take a much-needed sip of his steaming black coffee, only to find that the mug was no longer on his desk where he left it. Closing his eyes for a second, he sighed. “Larysa.” He was met with no response, and his small bedroom was empty apart from himself, but he still folded his arms and narrowed his eyes. “Put it back.”
A giggle rang through the room. “You have hands, don’t you?”
“And you seem perfectly capable of moving my stuff across the room without them.” Even grumbled, though he picked the mug up from his bedside table and took a long sip. He moved the cup away from his face just in time to see his pen fly across the room towards his wardrobe. “This isn’t funny,” he grumbled. He reluctantly placed his coffee back on its coaster, and cast a quick glance back towards it as he stretched to take the pen from the top of the wardrobe.
“Then why are you smiling?”
Even raised a hand to his face, and ran his fingers over his lips to find that they were in fact quirked up at the corner. He tried to make his face return to his usual blank expression as he turned back to his desk, where Larysa now perched with her legs crossed and a smirk on her face. He could still see his textbook through her translucent form, but the words were as blurred as his thoughts.
“Are you blushing?” She twirled a lock of long blond hair around her finger.
“No,” Even mumbled into his hand. “The cold just makes my cheeks go red.”
Larysa raised an eyebrow. “Sure…”
“Anyway, I really need to do some work now.” He waved a dismissive hand, catching the bow which held her hair back. It was just as intangible as Larysa herself, and wobbled like a mirage as his hand passed through it.
“Come on,” Larysa whined, and he felt a familiar cold sensation as she rested her chin on his shoulder. “We’ve only got a few days left.”
Even turned to look into her unearthly purple eyes, and sighed. He wanted to stroke the stray strand of blond hair that was obscuring them away. He wanted to caress her cheek, but he could not. He could never touch her, could only see her for a month every year. Once Halloween passed, she would fade again in a matter of days, and he wouldn’t see her again until the start of October next year. “Fine,” he said softly.
The creak of the door was the only thing that alerted them to it opening, and Larysa’s eyes widened as she quickly disappeared.
“Hey Even, who were you talking to?” Vlad asked, striding into the room to sink into a soft white beanbag in the corner.
“Just mumbling to myself,” Even said, turning back to his textbook in case his annoyance showed on his face. As much as he loved his friends, sometimes he preferred to spend time with his undead housemate rather than his living ones.
“Alright then, you do you,” Vlad smirked, his tone teasingly condescending. “Anyway, D&D starts in fifteen minutes, Arthur told me to come and get you.”
Even blinked in surprise. “Oh, it’s Saturday already?”
“Yep, has been for a good few hours. Good thing I came up here.” Vlad laughed. “Anyway, we should probably get going or Arthur will have our heads.”
“Yeah,” Even chuckled. As he followed Vlad out of the room, he turned back and saw Larysa in the corner of his room. She waved to him, and he smiled back, ducking his head and hurrying out as a blush crept back onto his cheeks.
Sparks danced into the air, winking out against the inky night sky. Even watched them as he leaned back on the log they’d dragged over to their makeshift bonfire. Though the sounds of firework displays raging on rang out in the distance, their bonfire was slowly dying down. He leant his head on Vlad’s soft brown hair as his friend leaned on his shoulder.
“You’re freezing, Even,” his friend complained in a sleepy murmur.
“So are you,” Even retorted, lightly nudging him in the ribs.
“Shall we cuddle up to Arthur instead? He’s the only warm one here,” Vlad smirked.
“You certainly shan’t,” Arthur snapped, his cheeks flaming as bright as the bonfire. “If you’re that cold, shall we head in and watch a film?”
“Sounds good.” Vlad stretched as he stood up. “Even, you coming.”
Even opened his mouth to respond, when he saw a face through the flickering flames. “Actually, I’ll stay out here for a few more minutes.”
“Alright then, mate,” Arthur shrugged. “Join us whenever.”
Once he saw the back door close, he turned with a soft smile to the girl he knew would be sitting by his side. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Larysa smiled back at him. In the dimming firelight, her faintness was painfully obvious; the warm light shone right through her. As she looked away from him, hair falling over her face, Even could tell something was up. Her entire demeanour seemed more closed off and reserved than usual.
“Is something wrong?” He asked, edging closer to her.
Larysa shook her head, but she still kept her head down. “I’m going to fade soon,” she mumbled.
“I know,” Even nodded sadly. “But I’ll see you next year.”
When she shook her head again, her movements were slower. “No…” She turned to him, her face etched with sorrow. “No, you won’t. I think I’m going to fade… for good.”
Even stared, his heart thudding as the words sank in. He felt numb, and heard his next words as if they were spoken by someone else. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I just… I thought about it, but I didn’t want to put a downer on our last days together.” Larysa offered him a weak smile.
“Don’t say that. You’ll come back next year,” he insisted. He felt so petulant and childish, but he couldn’t lose Larysa.
“I might.” She shrugged, looking into the flames. “Or I might not.” Her form was starting to flicker like the bonfire itself.
“You can’t…” he murmured, his voice quavering.
Larysa reached out a hand to cover his. “Even, I’ve already stayed for longer than I should. It’s about time I let go.”
Even wanted to tell her no. He wanted to scream and howl in protest, at the unfairness of it all. How he’d met the perfect girl years after she had passed on, how just when he’d found happiness she was being taken from him by the cruel winds of fate. But his voice was choked, and all he could utter were muffled sobs as he clutched desperately to a hand that wasn’t there.
“Hey…” Larysa’s voice was as calm as ever. “Hey… it’ll be ok. You will be ok. These past three Octobers have been the best time of my unlife. Just breathe now, make the most of your own life. You shouldn’t waste time crying over a dead girl you never even knew.” She laughed with more melancholy than humour.
“But I do know you,” he whispered as a tear dropped off the end of his nose. It fell through the chipped purple nail varnish that Larysa always wore, and splashed onto the back of his hand. Through his tears, he could barely see the outline of her, but her purple eyes sparkled in the firelight, locking with his as her body faded away. “Larysa, I…” He took in a breath, his lips trembling as he watched her disappear into the night. The comforting frosty presence of her hand on his was replaced by the bitter night air. He brought his hands to his face, closing his eyes as he whispered the words he’d wanted to say to the girl who was no longer there. “I love you.”
Any ship/Character "This, this is why we don't use Ouija boards!"
Thanks for the request! I decided to go with some RomEng because there isn't enough of them XD
“But Arthur, why not?” Arthur taunted, in a high-pitched mocking impression of his boyfriends voice. “But Arthur, I’m sure nothing will go wrong. Nothing will go wrong, my arse!” He ducked behind the sofa as a chessboard hurtled across the room. Though he glared as the pieces clattered and scattered to the floor, he reached to tightly grasp Vlad’s hand. “This, this is why we don’t use Ouija boards!”
Vlad craned his neck around, peering over the back of the sofa to see what the poltergeists were doing, and yelped as something flew past his head. “Well, you didn’t have to insult them!” He insisted in a frantic whisper.
“Hmph.” Arthur tried to look dismissive, as if he couldn’t care less. But the protective arm he’d placed across Vlad’s body when he heard him shout showed that the opposite was true. “I’ll have to exorcise them,” he mumbled, glancing over to his bookcase of spellbooks, which would be near impossible to reach without being pelted with attacks from the invisible spirits.
“Are you sure you don’t want to call Even? Or Larysa? They’d be able to deal with this.” Vlad suggested.
“I can handle this situation just as well as either of them could, thank you very much,” Arthur grumbled. At the lack of response from Vlad, he turned only to see him smirking.
“Arthur…” Vlad teased, his tone coy and his eyes glinting. “Are you jealous?”
“Pfft. What? No, of course not.” Arthur flushed. “I just don’t think it’s worth calling anyone over here when I can do this myself.”
Vlad shook his head softly, tilting it to let his fringe fall across his face. “Oh, I think you are… just a little bit.” He brushed his fingers over Arthur’s cheek.
“Vlad, stop trying to distract me, I need to deal with this,” Arthur muttered, though he leaned into Vlad’s touch, blinking slowly. Slowly, he brushed the strands out of Vlad’s eyes, letting the soft tawny hair fall through his fingers.
“Actually.” Vlad pulled away from him, leaving Arthur with a strange sense of cold that he tried to push down immediately. “Why have they stopped?”
“Vlad, don’t-” Arthur reached to stop him from standing up, but the other shrugged him off.
To Arthur’s surprise, Vlad’s face broke into a smile as he looked across the room. “Even! Larysa! What are you guys doing here?”
As Arthur got to his feet, he saw Larysa slip a wand back inside her long leather boot, and Even slide his magical cross clip back into his hair.
“Viktor called us and said he’d heard noise from your flat. Thought you might’ve summoned something we’d have to deal with.” Even shrugged.
“They were rookie level poltergeists,” Larysa teased. “Only took a wave of my wand, I’m surprised you didn’t deal with them yourself.”
Arthur opened his mouth to retort, but Vlad put an arm around his waist before he could argue. He sighed, not looking at the smirk he knew Vlad and Larysa would be sharing, and instead listened as Even explained the wards he’d put up to ensure the poltergeists couldn’t return. He made a mental note to throw out the old Ouija board so Vlad wouldn’t be tempted to use it again.
↳ “𝘪 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 cute 𝘢𝘯𝘥 inviting, 𝘣𝘶𝘵, 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦, 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 distance”
луиза аннет де бриенн — чистокровная ведьма, шестикурница академии магии шармбатон. внимательная и энергичная, воздушная, но при этом догматичная, она не переставала удивлять эрику своими противоречиями.
𝐀𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐒 !
босые ноги бегут по холодному мраморному полу, чтобы перекусить в полночь; непрочитанные книги, беспорядочно брошенные на библиотечном столе; ругательства на французском, звучащие совершенно безобидно; страх перед тем, как быстро идет время
𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐈 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓
ᴛʜᴇ ʟᴜᴍɪɴᴇᴇʀs — ᴏᴘʜᴇʟɪᴀ
fɪᴏɴᴀ ᴀᴘᴘʟᴇ — ᴘᴜʀᴇ ɪᴍᴀɢɪɴᴀᴛɪᴏɴ
I still remember Briar’s story from Pierce’s Circle of Magic series. Was neat to revisit this book as an adult ⁽(◍˃̵͈̑ᴗ˂̵͈̑)⁽
bookcover redesign prompt for @pthaloblack gallery
I still think of the books fondly. Her books are part inspiration for some of my own characters. Heir Apparent, Cry of the Ice Mark and Memnoch the Devil were other books I also considered redesigning. / v \
